Illuminate
by idiotique
Summary: Roxas is all wound up: he's recovering from a failed relationship, trying to figure out his current relationship and retaining his role in a notorious gang all at the same time. Will the addition of a new girl at school make things better or worse?
1. All In A Day's Work

_A/N: And here it is: _Shine_, re-written in Roxas' POV, a.k.a _Illuminate! _I hope this'll turn out as good as I hope…_

_If you haven't read _Shine _yet I strongly recommend you do because this story is that story's companion...story...and it would make a lot more sense if you read it!_

_The main inspiration for this story is a song by a band called Acceptance: _So Contagious.

_--_

**All In A Day's Work.**

"Hurry up, will you? We don't exactly have a lot of time!"

"Maybe if you stopped talking like that I can get this done faster."

"Just let him do his thing, Larxene."

Roxas gritted his teeth in concentration as he jammed the bent hairpin into the lock, jiggling it slightly. He could hear Larxene and Xigbar's ragged, nervous breathing from behind and it did not help with his own anxiousness; beads of sweat were slowly making their way down his temples and he was fighting to keep his fingers from shaking. He squinted as he twisted the hairpin sharply to the right; a triumphant grin crept onto his face when he heard the distinguishing _click! _of the lock finally opening.

"Awesome," He heard Xigbar cheer softly behind him as he turned the doorknob, revealing a small, dark office with metal file cabinets, cork bulletin boards covered in important-looking papers and a work desk cluttered with more important-looking papers. The blond watched Larxene flip her flashlight on; she scurried to one of the cabinets and pulled a drawer open.

"Nope," She muttered, throwing manilla folder after manilla folder over her head; the folders opened and their contents spilled all over the linoleum floor, "Nothing here."

Roxas winced at all of the noise she was making. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You're making a mess." Xigbar added.

The only female in the group narrowed her green eyes. "Can it, will you?" She flipped her flashlight in Roxas' direction; he was kneeling in front of the desk, trying to break into another lock. "How are you so sure it's in there?" She asked skeptically.

"You don't watch much TV, do you?" The blond briefly glanced over his shoulder to smirk at her; his navy blue eyes flashed a bright cobalt in the stream of light flooding in from Larxene's flashlight.

She rolled her eyes. "Like you do, XIII."

The sound of hurried footfalls in the near distance caught the threesome's attention, and they stiffened. Xigbar backed up against the wall, right beside the door. "Shit, they know we're here!"

The youngest of the three cursed, but he shook his spiky head and recomposed himself. "I'll make this quick, then." He pulled the cabinet open and peered into it; he pulled out a black leather satchel and grinned. "I knew it." As soon as he stood up to full height the door was kicked open so hard it slammed against the wall; five men wearing suits and sunglasses barged in with their fists by their sides. One was holding a knife.

"XIII scum," One with a buzz cut spat onto the floor, "Just what kind of people do you think you are, barreling in here with-"

"It's not our fault your procrastinator of a boss owes us money," Roxas cut him off acidly as he pulled the leather strap of the satchel over his shoulder, "We gave you a month - it's been a month and a half now and we're still empty-handed."

"Well, we're not anymore, technically." Larxene grinned. "We found what we were looking for, so if you'll excuse us…"

The men stepped closer together, guarding the only exit. They managed not to notice Xigbar, who was backed up against the wall the entire time. He leapt forward and knocked one of the men to the floor; the rest of them spun around and eyed him in shock. "Idiots." He cracked his knuckles and moved onto one of the other men.

"Not gonna use your babies this time, Xigbar?" Roxas laughed as he skillfully dodged an incoming punch.

"Naw," Xigbar patted the holsters around his waist before thrusting his fist into the jaw of his opponent, "It'll be too easy that way."

Larxene eyed the man with the knife, and she covered her mouth with one hand to suppress a giggle. "You're kidding me, right?" She dropped her flashlight and reached into the inside of her jacket; when she pulled her hand out there were four yellow and blue knives wedged in between the spaces of her fingers. The man with the knife dropped his instantly and stepped backwards, his hands and legs visibly trembling. When he dashed out of the room in a frightened frenzy the blonde sighed and shook her head. "That was only _one_ hand, too…"

"You're not helping out here, Larxene!" Roxas griped as he dodged another punch; he was dancing in between two of the hooded men, ducking and dodging their incoming attacks. Because they were fighting in the dark it was harder for him to see what his opponents were going to do next; when he thought one of them was going to kick they actually punched instead, and the blond grimaced as he felt a hard fist crack into the right side of his face. Stars exploded in and out of his vision as he stumbled backwards into one of the metal cabinets, but he quickly shook it off and rushed right back into the fray. "Call him now!" He demanded.

Larxene rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone as she ducked an incoming punch. "Slowpoke." She poked her tongue out in between her lips as she searched her contact list. "Locked and loaded." She muttered into her phone before snapping it shut; she spun around and struck her heel into her opponent's face. "He's ready!"

Roxas swiftly ducked and elbowed his opponent in the stomach; when the man doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain, the blond straightened up and elbowed him straight in the spine, sending him crumpling to the floor. He adjusted the leather strap on his shoulder and ran his hand through his spiky hair, simpering at the unconscious thugs spawled out beneath him. "That was too easy."

A few feet away Xigbar grunted and charged into one of the men, ramming him right into the wall. "Go, go, go!" He flailed his arms towards the door, and the two blondes ran straight through it. Being the fastest one of the three Larxene escaped first; she dashed down the hallway with minimal effort and jumped over the stair railing, landing on the lower floor with ease. Roxas followed her after that, landing with just a little less grace. Xigbar, unfortunately, was not as athletic as them so he had to rush down the stairs as quickly as he could to catch up with the two jumping blondes. When they finally reached the main floor of the building they ran into more men in suits, and they groaned.

"This'll take all day…" Larxene complained.

Roxas' mouth twisted into a determined smirk; as intimidating as the men were he did not seem to be afraid. "We don't have to do much - just charge through the entrance and we should be fine."

"Easy for you to say," II grumbled, and the blond laughed.

"Alright, are you guys ready?" XIII's eyes narrowed as the men began to step slowly towards them. "On the count of three - one...two...three!" He balled his hands into fists and plowed forward, violently shoving and shouldering his way through the crowd. He could hear Larxene laughing behind him and Xigbar complaining about them running too fast, and by the time he decided to turn his head over his shoulder to look back he was already by the glass doors. He pushed them open and stepped into the warm sun; the city streets were empty, which was unusual for this time of day. He heard Xigbar and Larxene's rushed footsteps slamming against the concrete behind him as they scurried towards the curb.

Right on cue the grating noise of tires screeching against the pavement blared into the threesome's ears; a beaten up truck zipped down the street and screamed to a halt right in front of them. Xigbar hopped into the back while Larxene and Roxas scrambled into the cab; Larxene got shotgun, of course.

"How was my time?" Axel asked jokingly as he hit the gas; with another screech the truck roared further down the street. They were going so fast Roxas jerked forward and nearly hit his forehead on the back of Axel's seat. "And what's with the man purse?"

"It has what we came here for," Roxas flipped the flap of the satchel over and pulled out a couple thick wads of cash; Axel grinned at him through the rearview mirror.

"I knew you wouldn't be a disappointment, Roxas," Xigbar hollered from the back, and Axel and Larxene rolled down their windows so they could hear them properly, "Superior's gonna be in your favour for sure tonight."

"Ah," The blond brushed his thin fingers through his hair, "I don't know if I'm going to stay that long. School starts tomorrow, remember?"

VIII and XII erupted into fits of laughter. "You're kidding me, right?" Larxene snorted, "Since when do you care about school?"

"I don't, but my mother and brother do." That was the truth, and it was the only reason.

"Fine, fine, you party pooper." Axel swerved around a corner, "Way to ruin the mood." He turned into a rundown part of the city; the streets here were cracked and grey, and the buildings were dilapidated and boarded up. He drove behind one of the most rundown-looking buildings in the entire street and parked behind it; the foursome clambered out of the truck and made their way towards a thick metal door with a slider near the top. VIII shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked the door violently; the slider opened, revealing a pair of angry blue eyes. When the eyes realized who it was on the other side of the door, however, they softened at the slightest bit and stepped backwards to open the door for them.

The interior of the building was an exact opposite of its exterior; the floors were covered in cold grey tile and the walls were painted in white, grey and silver. Roxas personally thought it looked a little bland.

"Lexaeus." The blond nodded politely; the pair of blue eyes belonged to a tall, burly man with wavy copper hair. Being the youngest in The XIII Roxas had to learn to respect everyone, even when they clearly did not deserve it. Lexaeus, however, was one of the ones that did, and it showed when he smiled and nodded back. The blond handed him the satchel, and the older man accepted it gratefully. "You'll take that to Superior, won't you?"

"Superior had no doubt you would do well," His voice was a deep baritone, "You're not going to see him yourself?"

Feeling a little embarrassed, the blond smirked shyly and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know if I have the time today." He noticed that Axel, Larxene and Xigbar had already gone up the stairs, so he excused himself to follow them. The steps were white and made of polished marble; he absently trailed his fingers along the black iron rail as he made his way upstairs, his eyes distantly drifting across the walls. He was satisfied with the feats he accomplished today, but for some reason he could not stop thinking about the disappointed look he knew his brother would be wearing when he sees him later.

He wordlessly made his way up the stairs to the very top floor, and then walked to the end of the hallway. He wrenched the door open and stepped inside, only to be greeted with a unified cheer of his name.

"Roxas!" His other comrades made a beeline for him the moment he entered the room; Luxord clapped him on the back and called him a 'resilient little bugger', Saïx actually paid attention to him for once and gave him a curt nod, Demyx punched the air and cheered and Xaldin leaned forward to ruffle his hair. The others were reclined on the white leather couches, giving him the thumbs up or nodding in his direction. He sighed and forced on another smile as he quietly thanked everybody; the attention was beginning to get a little irritating.

"Okay, okay," Roxas felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up; he sighed in relief when he discovered that it was Axel, "He's had enough for today; you can get his autograph later." He pushed the shorter boy towards the opposite side of the room and kicked open the French doors to the balcony. It was small, but it was not like they needed a lot of space. The taller boy pushed his fiery spikes back and closed his eyes against the soft breeze. "Three years and they still treat you like a baby."

XIII hopped up to sit on the ledge and leaned backwards against the brick wall; he reached into the pocket of his tattered jeans and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He plucked one out and stuck it into the corner of his mouth before tossing it over to Axel. "It won't last for much longer, I hope." He held out his hand just as his best friend tossed the lighter over. He lit the end of his cigarette and inhaled, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. The silvery wisps of smoke escaped his partially opened mouth and swirled upwards into the clear blue sky, weaving intricate little patterns before they faded away.

"Oh, that's right," Axel nodded once Roxas tossed back his lighter, "You're bringing whatserface next week, aren't you?" He laughed before lighting his own smoke. "It's about time."

The blond rolled his eyes and plucked the smoke out of his mouth, balancing it in between his forefinger and middle finger. "You've known her just as long as I have, Axel; surely you'd remember her name by now."

"Or maybe it's because I'm not madly in love with her, so I don't really pay attention to the little details."

_"Little details?_ It's common sense to know somebody's name!" Roxas shook his head slowly before taking another drag. "And besides, I don't...I don't think of her in that way."

His best friend snorted, and the younger boy turned to glare at him. "What do you mean, _'I don't think of her in that way'_? Quit playing around, Roxas."

He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "I thought I did, really, but…" He sighed again and shook his head, "It's hard to explain."

The redhead's eyebrow quirked upwards. "You know she's crazy about you; she's been crazy about you ever since you first met, and she was _still _crazy about you when you had that fling with-"

"It wasn't a _fling,"_ Roxas cut him off before his words were able to cut any deeper, "And I knew what her feelings were - I always did. Believe me, Axel, I'm trying...I'm trying to feel the same way, but I can't. I just can't." He threw his hands up in defeat and groaned, pressing the back of his head against the brick wall. "It's too soon to be thinking about this."

"Are you implying something?" Axel leaned in suspiciously, his eyebrow moving even higher up on his forehead. When the blond sighed and buried his face in his free hand, he frowned. "You can't stop thinking about it, huh?"

"No," Roxas groaned through his fingers, "I can't help it. I want to forget so bad, but at the same time I know it'll be impossible. It was my fault it ended, it was my stupidity and negligence that turned her away-"

"Whoa, whoa," His best friend held his hands up, "Enough with the depressing stuff, okay? You're killing me here." He twisted his cigarette butt into the stone ledge, putting it out. "You gotta learn to accept that it's over, Roxas. Move on; make room in your heart for somebody else, and learn from your past mistakes so you won't screw up again. Got it memorized?"

The younger boy inhaled his smoke one last time before whipping it hard against the ground. He rumpled his hair again and hopped off the ledge. "I know," He muttered; he was going to say more but his phone began to ring. He fished it out of his pocket and squinted at the caller ID before holding it up to his ear. "Hey."

"Hey!" A feminine voice answered him daintily; Roxas gave Axel a knowing look and the redhead rolled his eyes before strolling back inside. "How was the mission?"

"Not that bad," His fingers wandered towards his hair, "It was pretty easy, actually."

"That's good to hear," He could hear the smile in her voice and for some reason he felt guilty talking to her, "So, what are your plans for tonight?"

The guilt twisted deeper into his stomach. "Uh, I was actually planning to go home soon," His hand moved to his hair and he mentally cursed himself, "But if you want I can stop by for a little bit." Why did he always have to be so nice when it came to girls?

He could almost hear her smile widening. "That sounds great. So I guess I'll see you in a bit?"

"Yeah, give me ten or fifteen minutes."

"Alright - later, Roxas."

"Later." He cancelled the call and stared at his phone with dismay for a minute or two before shoving it back into his pocket. He walked back inside and eyed the curious expression on Axel's face. "I'm going."

Demyx, who was sitting on the l-shaped couch, turned around in his seat and gaped in disbelief. "What? Why? It's not even dark out yet!"

XIII shrugged his shoulders. "I've got things to attend to."

Xigbar raised a sly eyebrow. "You mean you've got a _girl_ to attend to." Beside him Luxord and Xaldin snickered. "Well, we don't want to keep you - or her - waiting, so we'll see you tomorrow."

"I don't know if I can come tomorrow," Roxas frowned, "School, remember?"

"Please don't remind me," Larxene groaned as she reclined in her seat, "I don't feel like going at all."

"You never do." Zexion blatantly pointed out, and she glared at him.

Axel stepped forward and patted his best friend on the shoulder. "See you tomorrow."

Roxas gave him a tired smile. "Later." He left the room and rushed down the stairs, waving to Lexaeus as he passed through the metal door. He pulled out his car remote and hit the unlock button; the headlights to his shiny BMW flashed twice. He sighed as he approached the expensive car; he never wanted it but his mother insisted and he could not say no. He slid his seatbelt into its buckle and pushed a CD into the stereo before twisting the key into the ignition; angry music blared out of the speakers as he backed out of his parking space.

Ten minutes later he was driving down a residential area of the city; he parked in the underground parking lot and made his way towards the elevator, riding it to the lobby of the apartment. When the doors slid open and he stepped out, she was already there.

"Hey you," Xion grinned widely and opened her arms to him. Roxas forced on a smile and stepped into her embrace, hesitantly winding his own arms around her tiny waist. He rested his chin atop her head and stared straight ahead, guilt washing over him. After a few minutes she leaned away from him a little bit and gasped. "Your face!"

"Huh?" He felt her smooth touch against his cheek, and when he felt the dull ache of a bruise coming along he flinched slightly. "Oh, it's nothing."

She tutted and shook her head, her short ebony strands flowing gracefully around her petite face. "Sure it is." She laughed and pressed her cheek against his collarbone, squeezing him affectionately. "You don't have to be the tough guy all the time, Roxas."

Her words could have meant many things, and he cringed. "I know, but who else could I be?" He asked softly, his lips moving against her hair. He felt so guilty, so guilty that he was not feeling anything at the moment. His heart should have been hammering at the sight of her, his fingers should have been tingling when they grazed her back, his voice should have been stuttering and incoherent.

"I don't know," He felt her shrug against him, "But you could at least not be so...so moody all the time. It brings everybody else down."

"I can't help it."

She looked up at him, and his chest ached when he found the longing, the craving for him in her bright blue stare. "What's wrong, Roxas?"

She was not the right person to tell, so he shook his head. Frowning, she huffed in frustration and poked the end of his nose with her index finger. "Fine, but you're gonna have to tell me eventually." She jerked her ebony head towards the elevator. "Do you wanna come upstairs, at least? I'll get you something for that bruise of yours."

He shook his head and gave her a sad smile. "No, I'm afraid I don't have time. I need to get my things ready for school."

Disappointment flickered across her blue depths and his chest contracted. "Oh...alright then. I'll see you later." She stepped back and smiled her best for him, but he could tell she was hurting inside and he hated himself for it.

He leaned forward and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "This weekend." He reminded her, and her face lit up. He ruffled his hair and waved goodbye before turning back towards the elevator to the parking lot, the guilt inside of him threatening to consume him whole. He replayed the image of her staring back at him with all the pain in the world in her stare, and he groaned and leaned back against the wall, lightly punching it with his fist. He knew that she knew why he had been feeling so out of it lately, and he knew that it was killing her.

How could he get over it? It was his fault it ended.

He silently made his way back towards his car. The angry music blasting from the stereo helped relieved some of the tension bunching up inside of him as he rolled out of the parking lot. When he was five minutes away from the on-ramp to the freeway he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his brother's number.

"Hey Roxas," Sora sounded as lively as ever, "Are you coming now?"

"Yeah, just wait for me outside." The blond cancelled the call and tossed his phone into the compartment below the stereo. He drove on the freeway for ten minutes, and when he got off he drove down another couple blocks before turning the corner. He stopped in front of a fast food restaurant; his brother was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Hey bro," Sora greeted cheerily as he climbed into the passenger seat; his eyes widened when he spotted the bruise on his brother's cheek. "What the - what the heck-"

"It's nothing," Roxas replied through gritted teeth; his eyes glanced over to the window of the restaurant and he spotted a few people waving in their direction. When he caught a glimpse of a smiling brunette with her arm around a blond boy's waist, he immediately turned to face the front.

Unfortunately his twin brother did not miss that - he did not miss much when it came to his brother, actually - and he frowned. "Roxas…"

"I'm fine." The blond shifted gears and drove out of the parking lot; he could feel the brunet's eyes on him and he exhaled sharply. "Really, Sora, I'm fine."

"You know you can't hide anything from me!" Sora prodded; he sighed and shook his spiky head. "At least she's happy now, right?"

Roxas let his brother's words sink in a little bit more; he finally responded when he stopped at a red light. "Yes, as long as she's happy it's fine with me," He frowned and ruffled the back of his hair, "Her happiness is all that matters, but what's really bothering me is the fact that I _never_ made her that happy. Not even once."

"Don't say that-"

"It's the truth!" Roxas' knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip on the wheel, "I was never around long enough to make her happy, to actually spend time with her! I'll never forget the look she gave me when she told me it was over…" He shook his head violently and stepped on the gas, "I hurt her, Sora."

"Maybe if you stopped running around with The XIII so much you'd find the time to correct your mistakes." Sora rolled his eyes, and Roxas glared at him but did not choose to say anything. He did not have a good enough answer, anyway.

The awkward drive lasted for another ten minutes; when the modern, open-ended architecture of the Katsura manor poked out from the tops of the trees Roxas let out a sigh. He parked in front of the house and a man stepped outside to take his car.

"Thanks, Frederiction," He mumbled as he tossed him the keys. He followed his brother inside the house, where their mother was waiting for them.

"Boys," She pulled her sons in for a hug; when she pulled away she glanced at them with a broad smile. "Are you ready for school tomorrow?"

"I think so," Sora replied, scratching his head, "Gotta double check, though - g'night, Mom!" He kissed her cheek quickly before dashing up the glass staircase to his room.

"And you, Roxas?" His mother turned to face him, and guilt bubbled inside of him again; though she was smiling he could see the pain, the disappointment in her eyes, and he knew why. She eyed the growing bruise on his cheek but she chose not to say anything, just like all the other times.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready." It was not his fault he looked exactly like his father, the man she loved so dearly, the man she thought she was going to be with for the rest of her life. Every time she looked at him she probably thought of his father - to her he was just a sad reminder of earlier, happier times. Roxas leaned in and hugged his mother again, pressing his cheek against her sleek hair. He loved his mother, and he hated how he was causing her so much pain. "I'm going upstairs now."

He could feel her thin arms slowly making their way around his waist. "Goodnight, Roku."

His childhood nickname did not make the hurt any better. "'Night, Mom." He pecked her on the cheek and made his way up the stairs, his hand wandering to his dirty blond spikes. He approached his door at the end of the narrow hallway and opened it slowly; it was dark and messy inside, just like how he left it. He absently kicked at a loose leaf of paper before sitting on the edge of his bed and burying his face in his hands; a heaviness settled in his chest, pulling his heart down to his stomach.

Why did he have to hurt everybody that was close to him? He never intended it; he never wanted to hurt anybody. He exhaled slowly and crossed his arms over his chest, his fingers catching onto the hem of his shirt. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it carelessly to the floor before unbuckling his belt and kicking off his jeans. After pulling his socks and shoes off he crawled underneath the sheets and stuffed his face into his pillow, breathing in deep. He did not care how early it was; he had enough of the world for today.

It was so hard to sleep nowadays; hours passed and all he had been doing was tossing and turning fruitlessly. He groaned and ducked underneath his pillow, rubbing his face with his hands and rumpling his hair. The never-ending guilt that licked at his insides was unbearable now, and he rolled over on his back and forced his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. The brunette's face flashed before him for a split second and he cringed, clamping his eyes shut. He groaned and rolled over on his stomach, trying to force the image of the brunette out of his head, but nothing was working. Her pale green eyes haunted him, and her voice was ringing in his ears. It was so hard, so hard to forget her.

Suddenly the green eyes turned into a pair of blue ones, and the long brown hair shortened and darkened into a pitch black. Xion was invading his head now with that sweet smile of hers; his hollow chest was threatening to cave inwards.

This was so stupid; he was losing sleep over _girls. _Roxas groaned again and rolled onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes. He needed to get at least a few hours of sleep; he had school in the morning. He needed to attend school so he could let his mother believe that he was a good student, that he was attending class every day and getting good grades, like his brother. He needed to prove to his mother that growing up in the city with a single dad did not harden his personality at all; he needed to prove to his mother that he was just as good as Sora was.

He needed to pretend that everything was fine.

--

_A/N: Axel's truck is a 1998 Chevy Silverado._

_A couple of the songs Roxas was playing in his car: _The Ex _by Billy Talent and _We Are The Sound_ by Alexisonfire, which should be the theme song for Organization XIII in my opinion. I guess it can be their theme for this story =P_


	2. New Inspiration

_A/N: Glad to see everyone's liking the story so far =) Roxas is actually really hard to write in this story because I've had so much trouble trying to figure out what he was thinking when I was writing _Shine, _and now that I'm re-writing the story in his POV it's practically wringing my brain out. Darn you, complicated teenage boy..._

_--  
_

**New Inspiration.**

Roxas did not need an alarm to wake him up the next morning since he was already awake to begin with. He probably got at least an hour or two of sleep, but that was all he needed. He just needed to get through school, and then he could come back home and pass out for the rest of the day. He swung his long legs over the edge of his bed and made his way towards the bathroom, where he took a quick shower. Afterwards he trudged into his walk-in closet and lethargically changed into his school uniform: black dress pants, white dress shirt, navy blazer with the school crest sewn on the breast pocket and the black tie with silver and navy diagonal stripes. He grabbed a box of band-aids sitting on the dresser and pulled a small one out; he removed the paper and stuck the band-aid over his bruise. He pulled on his black dress shoes and hooked his index and middle fingers into the loop of his leather book bag, tossing it over his shoulder.

He made his way out of his room and down the hallway; he briefly glanced at Sora's door, wondering if he was awake or not, but he shrugged it off and began to descend the black glass steps. He wandered into the kitchen and hastily shoved half a slice of toast into his mouth before running to the front doors. Fredericton had already parked the car in front, and the older man tossed him his keys as he circled the car to the driver's seat.

"Where is your brother this morning?" Fredericton asked curiously.

"Beats me," Roxas shrugged as he pushed the key into the ignition, "This is what he gets for not waking up on time." He closed the door and quickly drove down the long pathway. His hand ran through his hair as he drove to school, sighing when he spotted the familiar black gates and the Baroque-style buildings. When he turned into the parking lot he immediately spotted the well-worn truck parked in the corner, and he eased his BMW into the vacant spot beside it.

"Heya," Axel and Demyx climbed out of the truck as soon as Roxas left his car; the redhead clapped his friend on the back and pulled his lighter out of his pocket, "You look quite chipper this morning."

XIII rolled his eyes as he reached for his cigarettes. "Didn't sleep again."

Larxene hopped out of the truck, tugging on her pleated black skirt. "Ugh, I hate, hate, _hate_ this uniform!" She pulled down on her tie, loosening it, and her fingers scraped against the wool of her navy sweater vest. "I look like a complete dork!"

Axel briefly glanced over his shoulder. "Since when do you _not_ look like one?" Larxene kicked him hard in the shins and he had to lean against his truck so he would not fall over. "OW! Motherfu-_hey!_"

Roxas snatched his best friend's lighter and held it to the end of his cigarette. He inhaled the smoke and stuck his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the door of his car. He eyed the other students climbing out of their cars, laughing with their friends and talking excitedly amongst each other. He scoffed and rolled his cigarette from one corner of his mouth to the other.

"So you're still busy sulking over that Olivia chick?" Demyx asked, rubbing the back of his sandy blond head.

Roxas turned his head slowly towards him. "Her name's Olette."

"Er, yeah, that's what I meant."

"Sort of, yes." XIII sighed and took another long drag. "It's gotten to the point where I can't sleep anymore."

"Hm," IX tapped a finger on his chin, "Maybe you need to find some sort of distraction - y'know, something to keep your mind off of her. You still play music, don't you?"

It was rare to see Demyx in such a profound state - it was so rare, actually, that Larxene and Axel stopped their bickering to pay attention to him and even Zexion climbed out of the backseat of Axel's truck to listen. Roxas rumpled the back of his hair and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth. "Yeah, but lately I've been getting, er, artist's block."

"Then maybe you need to find some new inspiration," Demyx spread his arms out as if he was explaining how to part the ocean, "It's a new school year, Roxas - give yourself a chance to start over!"

"A chance to start over…" That sounded really appealing. He looked up at the taller boy and smiled. "I don't know if it's possible, but I'll give it a try. Thanks, Dem."

Axel playfully rapped his knuckles against the side of IX's head. "Whoever knew there'd actually be _something_ in there?"

Demyx swatted his hand away. "Shaddup!"

Roxas' phone began to ring, and he walked away from his friends for a moment to answer it. Sora's name was blinking on the screen. "If you're angry at me, there's no point in arguing - you were the one that woke up late."

It was very noisy in the background, and he could hear Sora's ragged breathing as he ran furiously down the street. "You - should've - woken - me - up!" He choked in between heaves, and Roxas stifled his laughter.

"Maybe, but it's too late now isn't it?" He grinned into his phone as he flicked his cigarette butt onto the pavement, and his brother groaned in frustration. "Don't worry, I'll wait for you after school."

"You - better - be - serious-AH!" There was a loud thud, and then it went quiet.

The blond raised an eyebrow. "Er, Sora?"

"Sorry-" He heard the sound of his brother rustling against the grass, "-I fell. Anyway," He was heaving heavily, "I'll...I'll wait for you...after school! G-gotta run...some more now...bye!"

XIII shook his tousled head as he pocketed his phone, and he chuckled to himself as he wandered back to his friends. Axel and Larxene were arguing yet again, and Demyx and Zexion were trying to ignore them. Roxas sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, and then he turned towards VI.

"What time is it?"

Zexion flipped his wrist and gazed at his watch with disinterested eyes, but when he read the time his expression changed drastically. "Er…"

Larxene stopped strangling Axel and turned her golden blonde head towards the smoky-haired boy. "What? Are we late?"

"Around seven minutes late, yes."

_Crap._ Roxas pried his car door open and reached inside to grab his book bag. "I'll see you guys at lunch." He tossed his bag over his shoulder and pulled his crumpled schedule out of his back pocket - he had History first. Hm, maybe he could catch some shuteye…

He raced to the SS Wing and charged up the stairs, not really knowing why he was actually worried about showing up late to class. He glanced at his schedule again to check what room he was in, and when he found it he pushed the door open a little too hard, causing it to burst open and bang loudly against the wall.

Mr. Watanabe eyed him tiredly, and Roxas rolled his eyes. He had the geezer last year, and he did not make a very good impression. "Mister Katsura...how nice of you to join us."

He ignored the looks the other students were giving him as he made his way to one of the desks at the back row. He forced himself down on his chair and placed his bag on the hook, leaning forward and propping his elbow up. He rested his cheek in his palm and let his eyes drift around the classroom, eyeing all the semi-familiar faces he had seen from last year. He tried to pay attention to the lecture but he was just too tired; he yawned and pressed his forehead against the desk, closing his eyes. Olette and Xion did not haunt him this time, so he was able to fall asleep against to lazy drone of Mr. Watanabe's introductory lecture.

The bell rang suddenly, and it forced Roxas' eyes open. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his tired eyes with his knuckles; it felt like he had been asleep for only ten minutes. He reached for his bag and hoisted it over his shoulder, and he was about to head for the door when a flash of platinum blonde stopped him in his tracks.

A girl he had never seen before just rose from her seat; the sunlight pouring in from the window dappled across her fair hair, causing it to glare slightly in his eyes. Unfortunately her back was turned to him so he could not see her face. He raised an eyebrow, curious, and he watched her abruptly leave the classroom. Shrugging it off, he glanced at his schedule to see what his next class was - Math.

He forced his exhausted legs to work as he headed back into the early autumn outdoors; the walk to the Math and Science Wing was not very long and he had a few minutes to kill so he decided to take a smoke break. He moved towards the side of the building, where it was a little harder to be seen, and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his book bag. He leaned against the smooth stone wall with his smoke in between his fingers, his dark blue eyes scanning the crowd on the cobblestone pathways. His heart jumped a little when he spotted Olette walking with her books clutched to her chest, chatting heartily with a chubby, black-haired boy. He scoffed and turned his attention to his shoes, trying to block out the aching that was pulsating in the centre of his chest.

After another few minutes he extinguished his smoke and resumed his walk to class. He stifled a yawn before reaching for the doorknob; the cigarette just made him even more tired. When he walked through the door his eyes caught the same platinum blonde flash from homeroom, and he turned to see where it was coming from.

His eyes briefly met with the unfamiliar blonde girl from History; it only happened for a split second, but when it did the impact it had on him was so strong it made him forget where he was standing. The moment their eyes met the girl instantly blushed and turned away; he noticed that she was sitting beside a familiar redheaded girl - Sora's girlfriend and a longtime friend of the family, Kairi Hinomoto.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of his daze, and made his way towards his desk. He felt lightheaded for some reason, and he lightly smacked himself to snap out of it. He felt his eyes wander towards the blonde girl again, and he felt a strange warming sensation growing in the pit of his stomach.

Those probably had to be the biggest, most expressive, most _gorgeous_ eyes he had ever seen.

He watched her chat shyly with Kairi; her skin was pale, not sickly pale but more of a smooth, porcelain-type of pale - the kind that was tempting to touch. Her flaxen hair was just a bit past shoulder length and maybe even a little tousled-looking; it curled very slightly at the ends and it was flipped over her right shoulder. There was a flick of hair near the back of her head that stuck out somewhat, and she would occasionally reach out to tug on it. She turned her head to mutter something to Kairi; even from the back of the class it was easy to see her small, pink lips and her dainty nose. Her eyes - his heart fluttered at the thought of seeing them again - were quite large, even bigger than Kairi's, and they were a pale blue-grey. The long, dark lashes that rimmed them only brought the colour out more.

She was very pretty - beautiful, even.

He knew it was rude to stare, but he could not help it; there was something about that girl that made it impossible to look away. He did not even know her name and he found himself fascinated with her.

Who was he losing sleep over again? What was that girl's name, the one he was trying to force himself to like? It did not matter anymore - the pale blonde girl sitting a few rows in front of him did now.

Roxas swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on his math work but it was hard when she was sitting _right there, _talking with Kairi and trying to do her work at the same time. His fingers gripped the edge of his desk as he scolded himself; he knew it was rude to stare, but how could he not?

He knew Kairi knew he was staring; he caught her looking back every once in awhile, and she even clashed eyes with him once. When that happened she gave him a disturbingly sly smile before turning back towards the blonde girl.

Math finally ended, and he waited for Kairi and the girl to leave before getting up and doing the same. He was shaking his head the entire way to the student centre.

"Roxas!" He turned around and found Axel, Larxene, Zexion and Demyx standing by the doors to the cafeteria. His best friend strode towards him and clapped a hand on his back. "We've been yelling your name for the past five minutes; are you going deaf or something?"

The blond frowned and rumpled the back of his hair. "Sorry - I'm a little...distracted."

"Distracted?" XII laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Old news, Roxas."

Demyx rubbed his belly. "Can we eat now? I'm starving!"

Zexion rolled his eyes and pushed the doors to the cafeteria open. IX practically skipped all the way to the lunch line, and Axel groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why did we even bother befriending him in the first place?"

"I dunno," Larxene shrugged, "Pity?"

The redhead nodded slowly. "Probably."

Roxas was too busy staring at a certain cafeteria table to listen to what his friends were saying. The blonde girl was there with Kairi, his brother and their friends Hayner, Pence and (his heart gave an uncomfortable jolt) Olette. They were chatting like any other old regular group of friends; minutes later Olette and Kairi stood up - probably to get some food, and then the blonde turned her attention to Sora.

"Yo, Roxas," Axel lightly slapped his friend at the back of his head, "Stop daydreaming, will you?"

XIII narrowed his eyes, but he chose not to say anything and began to follow him and the others. As they made their way towards their usual table at the back Demyx came back with a tray of lasagna.

"Mm," He brought the tray closer to his face and sniffed, closing his eyes in ecstasy, "I have a feeling this'll taste amazing."

"Ugh," Larxene wrinkled her nose, "Disgusting."

"Yikes!" As the quintet made their way towards their table Demyx somehow managed to slip on something - what it was, no one knew - causing him to drop his tray of lasagna. It flipped out of his hands and landed on the stone floor with an odd splattering noise. IX gazed at the mess with pained eyes and childishly kicked the floor with his shoe. "DAMN IT! I just wasted my seven bucks!"

"Oh God," There were tears squeezing out of Axel's closed eyes, "That was rich!"

Larxene stifled a laugh, but then when she noticed that nearly everyone in the cafeteria was looking at them she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You are _so_ stupid, Demyx."

Roxas rolled his eyes and continued walking towards the table, trying to suppress the fact that the boy with the mullet throwing a fit over his wasted lasagna was in fact his friend. Larxene and Zexion followed him soon afterward, and Axel grabbed Demyx by the scruff of his neck and managed to pull him to the table.

"Stop crying over it, will you?" XII rolled her eyes, "Just buy another one for God's sake!"

"I'm not spending another seven bucks," Demyx glared, "I need munny to last me through the week!"

"What the hell do you need munny for?" Axel chuckled, "You only spend it on food."

"I need new strings," IX muttered as he leaned forward to rest his arms on the table, "I broke a couple of them last night."

There was a loud ringing stemming from Zexion; the smoky-haired boy reached inside his blazer and pulled out his phone. He eyed the call display with his usual bored expression before holding it up to his ear. "What is it?" His brow scrunched together as he listened, and the others leaned in towards him to see if they could figure out who was talking to him. "Oh, I see. Yes - I'm with all of them now, actually. Alright. I'll be sure to tell them. Okay."

"Who was that?" Roxas asked as he reached upwards to ruffle his hair.

"VII," Zexion replied dully, "Superior has a job for us."

"Great," Axel groaned as he leaned into his palm, "Can't he see we're too busy at school to be kicking ass right now?"

"Stop being so lazy," Larxene shoved him so hard he nearly fell off his chair, "Anyway, what did he want us to do?"

"We actually don't have to do this until later on at night," VI explained monotonously, "Apparently the munny you, Roxas and Xigbar snatched a few days ago wasn't for Superior; it was for someone else. The person whom the money belongs to wants it back."

"Er, okay," Roxas frowned, "So what does he want us to do about it? We're not giving back the munny, are we?"

"Of course not," Zexion smirked, "Superior wants us to convince him that we're _not_ giving it back, even if we have to use brute force."

"Ooh, sounds exciting," Larxene clapped her hands together in glee, "So what time are we supposed to be doing this, and where are we meeting up?"

"Saïx said to meet Luxord and Xaldin at headquarters around quarter to midnight. Afterwards we'll be heading over to the same office building."

Axel was cracking his knuckles. "I can't wait."

By that point Roxas had already tuned out of the conversation. His eyes wandered around the cafeteria and they naturally had to land on the pretty blonde girl talking to his brother. Kairi and Olette had just returned to the table carrying trays of lasagna; once the redhead gave the blonde stranger her lasagna she glanced upwards, and his eyes clashed with hers for the second time today. Those wonderfully large, pale blue hues widened in shock, and her pallid face brightened into a tomato red. She turned away a second later and tried to focus on her lasagna.

She was kind of cute when she did that.

"We should head to next period," Zexion was checking his watch again, "We don't want to be late."

Roxas snapped out of his daydream, shouldered his book bag and gave his friends a curt nod. "I'll see you all later tonight, then."

"Right-" Axel gave him a mocking salute, "-I'll call you."

XIII yawned as he left the student building, but before heading to his next class - English - he took another smoke break. He flicked the cigarette butt away after five minutes and headed towards the Arts Building, yawning again as he trudged up the stairs. He had no idea how he was going to get through tonight's mission with such a low energy level; he hoped he would get in a few hours of sleep before Axel called later.

When he dragged his half-awake self into class the first thing he noticed was a head of spiky, out-of-control brown hair. Sora was sitting with that blond kid, Hayner; in between them was the blonde girl, but her back was turned towards him.

"Hey Roxas," Sora rose from his seat a little to wave at him, and the blond gave him a short nod before finding a seat at the back of class like always. Again his eyes locked themselves on the new girl, and he spent most of the lecture chastising himself for being so rude. The worst part was that he knew that _she_ knew he was staring; it was obvious by the way she kept shifting around in her chair, and even from where he was sitting it was easy to see the tendons in her hands straining against her ashen skin as she gripped the edge of her desk. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his hair as guilt swelled up inside his chest; why was it so hard to look away?

When class ended she bolted out of the class, and the guilt kicked him again. He hoped he did not have last period with her.

He took another smoke break before heading towards the PE Wing; he glanced at his half-empty pack and made a mental note to pick up some more later. He was a few minutes late again when he arrived in the main gym; the class was sitting on the polished wooden floors, and Mr. Tanaka was standing before all of them with his usual clipboard and shiny aviator sunglasses.

The brawny gym teacher glanced up and noticed the blond latecomer. "Well, well," He chuckled amusedly, and he rolled his eyes, "Look at what we have here. S'been awhile, Katsura."

He never really liked this teacher, but he gave him one of his smirks and moved to sit on the floor - near the back, like always. The moment he folded his legs underneath him he found the same platinum blonde flash; that girl was in his class again, sitting beside Sora and that Tidus jock.

Odd - so that girl was in _all_ of his classes?

Roxas was still mulling over it when class ended. He was shaking his head the entire time he walked from the gym to his locker, and he was still shaking his head when he left the SS Wing towards the parking lot.

"Yo, daydreamer," Axel slapped him on the back, scaring him out of his thoughts, "Whatcha thinkin' about, hmm?" The pyromaniac leaned in teasingly and gave him a mocking smirk, "Someone on your mind, buddy? Someone..._feminine?"_

"Leave me alone, Axel." Roxas groaned and shoved his best friend by the shoulder.

"Hey, what are you bothering Roxas about?" Larxene had just arrived; she smirked at the two best friends and placed her hands on her hips.

"He's in _loooove,"_ The redhead snickered, doubling over and clutching his stomach, "He's been spacey all day, Larxene - haven't you noticed how out of it he was during lunch?"

"Heh, come to think of it you _did_ look a bit distracted," XII simpered, "So, Roxas, who's the new girl?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about," The blond muttered as he dug through his pockets for his keys, "Now can you please go away? I really need some sleep-"

"Oh, of course," Axel guffawed, "We'll leave you to sleep - you need all the time you need before the job tonight."

"Yeah, you can use the next few hours to dream sweet dreams about your pretty girl, whoever the hell she is." Larxene snorted, and Axel joined in with her.

"Yeah, your _dream_ girl." The redhead choked in between his fits of laughter, and Roxas groaned again and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I have to pick up my brother." He unlocked his car and stepped into the driver's seat. "I'll see you both tonight."

"Say hi to your dream girlfriend for me!" Axel hollered as he backed out of his parking space, and Roxas gave him a rude hand gesture before shifting gears. He spotted his brother and a few of his friends standing outside the student centre, and when his eyes found the same flaxen-haired girl that was in all of his classes his heart began to hammer uncomfortably against his ribcage.

He shook his spiky head and honked the horn; Sora grinned as he approached the car. "Heya Roxas." He was grinning _that_ grin, and it made him feel very uneasy.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He muttered as he circled out of the school roundabout.

"Don't think I don't know, bro," The brunet chuckled, "I know you've noticed the new student - she's in all of your classes!"

He could feel an unwanted heat rising into his face. "Who?"

"C'mon, Roku," Sora was laughing harder now, "You're my twin brother - I _always_ know what you're thinking about - or should I say, _who_ you're thinking about."

The blond groaned and thunked his head against the back of his seat. "I don't know why, but I couldn't stop staring. I felt like one of old perverts in the subway stations downtown!"

"Hey, this is a good thing," His brother clapped him on the shoulder, "Maybe this is a sign."

"A sign?" Roxas scoffed, "A sign for what?"

"A sign for a new beginning," The brunet shrugged, "Like, maybe she'll help you move on."

"I don't know, Sora," The blond rumpled the back of his hair, "I don't even know her name."

"How do you not know her name when she's in all of your classes?"

"I came late to every one of them."

"Oh, right-" Sora shook his head, "-her name's Naminé, Naminé Hinomoto. She's Kairi's cousin; she's staying over at Kairi's house for the school year."

The mention of her name gave his heart another jolt. _Naminé..._he liked the sound of it. "I was wondering why she was talking to her a lot," He ruffled his hair again as he turned into the Katsura manor driveway, "And now that I think about it they kind of look alike."

"Yeah, they're both really cute." Sora sighed almost dreamily and Roxas rolled his eyes, though on the inside he kind of agreed with him.

"You're hopeless." He stepped out of the car and tossed his keys over to Fredericton, who was waiting by the curb the entire time. He yawned as his brother opened the doors to the modern-designed foyer of the house; their mother was standing by the foot of the black glass staircase.

"Boys," She smiled kindly, "How was school?"

"Great," Sora replied bouncily, "We met Kairi's cousin Naminé, and she's in all of Roxas' classes!"

He shot his twin brother a glare before turning towards his mother. "I didn't _actually_ meet her yet," He said quickly, "But I've seen her around and, uh, she's...nice." Sora playfully nudged his elbow and he jerked away from him, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, I've heard about her," Their mother smiled, "Midori's told me all about Naminé. She sounds like a nice girl."

"Yeah - she's _really_ nice." Sora smirked and glanced at his brother from the corner of his eye, and Roxas returned it with a glare.

"You two better head upstairs," Their mother gestured towards the stairs, "You look like you're in need of a nap - especially you, Roku."

"I'll get right on it," Roxas yawned as his brother scrambled up the steps, "Later, Mom."

He sighed when he finally reached the haven of his messy room. He did not even bother to undress; he plopped face-first on his bed, fully dressed in his school uniform and closed his eyes, sighing into his sheets. His head was swimming with many things, particularly the job he was supposed to do tonight and the beautiful new blonde girl he had every class with -_ Naminé._

God, even just thinking of her damn name made something stir inside of him. What the hell was going on? He never even talked to her yet and he was thinking about her in his sleep! He never interacted to her and he was thinking about how soft her hair looked and how big her eyes were and how tempting her skin was. He never even thought of Olette of this way in the past - this was going to be a problem.

Before he knew it his phone began to ring; his eyes snapped open, groaning as he reached inside his pocket to answer his phone. "Axel?"

"Yo, Romeo," The redhead chortled, "Did I wake you up?"

Roxas glanced at his clock radio and noticed with surprise that it was already almost eleven o'clock. "Y-yeah, but I'm fine now. I needed the nap."

"Oh, really now?" The blond rolled his eyes as his best friend laughed some more, "You fall in love too easily, man - tell me who she is!"

XIII inwardly cringed at his best friend's words and wisely decided to ignore them. "Are you at headquarters already?"

The redhead sounded a little disappointed, but he answered his question anyway. "I'm on my way, actually. You better start heading out too - you know how Zexion is when you're, like, a millisecond late."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Roxas glanced downwards at his wrinkled uniform but decided to keep it on; Zexion _really_ did not like it when anyone was late, so it was safest not to change, "I'll be there soon." He cancelled the call and made his way towards his door, turning the knob slowly and opening it just a little so that his head could push through. He could hear his brother's dreadful snoring from the closed door adjacent to his; he was good to go.

Sighing, he jogged back towards his nightstand and pulled out the top drawer, where a spare car key was lying absently underneath a few sheets of crinkled paper. He pocketed it quickly and crept out of his room, past Sora's room, down the glass steps and out of the house. His steps were lithe and soundless as he strode towards the massive garage to the left; he reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out a small pin, and he jammed it into the lock of the door leading inside the garage. In seconds he opened it and flicked the light switch. The blond sped through row after row of expensive cars until he found what he was looking for: his gunmetal BMW.

He drove slowly out of the garage, thankful for the car's quiet engine. When he was out on the street he cranked his stereo on; more angry music pumped out of the speakers. Twenty minutes later he turned into the usual parking lot behind the seemingly dilapidated building; Zexion, Larxene, Demyx, Luxord, Xaldin and Axel were already waiting outside the back door.

"Reckon you didn't bother to change, eh?" X smirked and crossed his arms, "Ah, no matter - you still look rather dapper."

"Obviously," Axel rolled his eyes, "If he wasn't he wouldn't have all of Brighton's female population hounding after him."

"What's with the sour face, VIII?" Larxene leaned in towards him, "Are you jealous?"

"Of who - Roxas for getting all the girls' attention, or the girls for taking Roxas away from him?" Demyx snickered, and he ducked his head just as the pyromaniac swung a fist in his direction.

"So we're going to that same office building, correct?" Roxas turned around to face Zexion, not really in the mood to argue.

"Yes, but I believe we'll be actually confronting this boss fellow this time," VI was shifting through a few papers in his arms; some were floor plans of various floors of the building, and some were criminal record profiles on a few of the opposing gang's elite members, "Which is probably why Superior wanted more of us on this job."

"Oh well," Xaldin rolled one of his shoulders, "The more the merrier."

"I guess we're taking my truck," Axel over to the beaten-up vehicle and hopped into the driver's seat; Roxas, Luxord and Zexion climbed in the back seats, Larxene got shotgun and Xaldin and Demyx clambered into the back.

"Dammit," IX grumbled as he sat down on the rusty bottom of the back cab, "I never get to sit in the seats."

"Ah, stop being such a crybaby," Axel hollered from his open window; he flicked his stereo on and loud music began to play. He grinned and turned around in his seat to give everyone a two-fingered salute, "Next stop: that weird office building thing!"

Roxas groaned and pressed his cheek against the window, closing his eyes and trying to block out the raging vocals and gritty guitars. Though he took a nap he still felt tired, and as much as he anticipated the chaos that was ensured for tonight all he really wanted was to sleep.

He wanted to think about her some more.

--

_A/N: More angry music: _Give It All _by Rise Against and _Your Sword Versus My Dagger _by Silverstein._

_Axel likes to listen to heavier music - or at least that's how I picture it. If you were in his truck at the time he turned on the stereo you would've probably heard _Chop Suey! _by System Of A Down and _Bloodmeat _by Protest The Hero._


	3. Rain

_A/N: I've been trying to line up the chapters with this story and _Shine, _but I kinda messed it up last chapter -_- So when this story's done it'll probably be 29 (that is, if I don't screw up again) chapters. Ugh, this wasn't how I wanted it to be, but I guess I'll have to deal with it._

_Random bit of information: I know I said the main inspiration for this story is Acceptance's _So Contagious, _but the song that's actually helping me to write in Roxas' POV is illScarlett's _Life Of A Soldier - _so I guess in a sense the whole romance theme of the story is inspired by _So Contagious_, but Roxas' actual train of thought is inspired by _Life Of A Soldier. _Just thought y'all wanted to know._

_--_

**Rain.**

It was a good thing Roxas did not change out of his school uniform, for the job lasted longer than he thought. The boss they had to confront was more stubborn than a pack of angry mules, and to make things worse he had at least one hundred of his men on board with him. The blond's knuckles were raw and red by the time they finished their mission.

When the group returned to headquarters it was nearly four in the morning; Roxas did not see the point in going home, but at the same time he knew that if he stayed here his brother would give him a nice earful when he _did_ come home.

"Ah, it's not like you haven't done it before," Axel shrugged as they made their way inside the blandly decorated building, "What's one more night gonna do?"

"I guess," Roxas yawned and stretched his arms as they trudged up the stairs together, "Whatever - I'm too tired to drive. I'll see you in the morning, Axel."

The blond forced himself up another two flights of stairs to reach the highest floor of the building, where the members' personal rooms were. His room was almost at the very end of the hallway - the thirteenth door. He tried not to stay over so much for the sake of his mother and brother, so his room was a little empty; it was literally just a room with a bed. Permanent and/or frequent residents like Axel, Larxene and pretty much all of the older members had their rooms personalized; unlike them he had a reason to come home.

Roxas' body was aching with exhaustion, and the moment he fell into the small but comfortable mattress his muscles seemed to sigh with relief. He only managed to get at least three hours of sleep, however, since he had to drive all the way back to the gated community for school.

The second he closed his eyes he was overwhelmed with a flash of flaxen hair and a pair of big blue eyes, but for some reason he did not feel as shocked as he should. It helped him to sleep, oddly enough; there was just something about the clean, innocent image of that girl that made his muscles relax and his heartbeat even out.

When it was time for him to wake up he washed up in the bathroom and readjusted his tie before leaving his room; Axel and the others were already in the lounge downstairs eating breakfast.

"Bagel?" Demyx tossed him one, and he caught it with one hand.

"Some party that was last night, eh?" The pyromaniac snickered as he poured himself a glass of orange juice, "I think I had at least ten dudes under me."

Larxene snorted so hard the milk she was drinking almost spurted out of her nose. "Too easy, Axel - _way_ too easy." She leaned backwards just in time to dodge VIII's hands, which were inching towards her neck.

"You did well last night, Roxas," Zexion glanced upwards from his oatmeal, "Superior wouldn't stop talking about you."

The blonde's dark blue stare widened. "Really?"

"Yeah - it got kinda annoying after an hour," Axel laughed; he had one palm on Larxene's forehead, pushing her away from him as she tried to swipe at his face, "But hey, VI is right: you totally kicked ass yesterday. I didn't know it was possible to face so many guys by yourself."

XIII shrugged and reached for the butter. "It was nothing."

"I bet I know why he was so amped last night," XII wiggled her golden eyebrows suggestively, and Axel snorted; Demyx' head was tilted to the side in confusion and Zexion was eating his oatmeal as if nothing unusual was going on. Larxene teasingly leaned forward, peering into the youngest member's face and batting her eyelashes, "The thought of his beloved gives him strength to carry on."

Roxas backed up against his chair, trying to cover the bottom half of his face with his bagel. "What are you talking about?"

Axel snorted again and shook his fiery mane. "Don't play stupid with us, Roxas - why don't you just tell us who the chick is so we can stop bothering you?" When Larxene gave him a dull look he shrugged his shoulders, "Okay, we probably won't stop bothering you but knowing her name will help our jokes sound, er, not-so vague."

"Roxas is in love? _Again?"_ IX's green eyes widened, and the youngest blond at the table glared at him. "Who's the girl this time?"

"Yeah," Larxene sneered, "It's gotta be someone from school, though, 'cause that's when he started acting weirder than usual."

"There's no _girl,"_ XIII spat before taking a swig of his orange juice, "So there's no use in trying to figure it out."

"No girl, eh?" Axel snorted for the third time that morning, "I never knew you went both ways."

"Here's your chance, Axel." XII laughed and ducked as the pyromaniac attempted to reach for her again. Demyx stifled a giggle and even Zexion cracked the tiniest hint of a smile.

"You guys are retarded," The redhead grumbled, "Just 'cause I said I loved him _once_ doesn't mean I've got the hots for him - I meant it in a brotherly way!"

"Don't forget about the time where you said Roxas made you feel like there was more to your heart than just being a vital organ in your body," Demyx added, smirking at how Axel's temper seemed to be shortening with every single word, "And the time when you-"

"What, can't a guy express his brotherly - keyword _brotherly -_ love for another guy?" The pyromaniac raised his hands in defeat, "God, you guys are hopeless."

"You really need to choose your words carefully, Axel." Zexion piped up, and Demyx and Larxene nearly tumbled off their chairs from laughing so hard; if Zexion had to have the last word that was when you _knew_ something was a recurring issue.

Normally Roxas would have been trying to back up his best friend's points but today he was just too distracted in his own thoughts; the blonde girl - Naminé - was in his head the entire night, and for some reason he was actually looking forward to going to school today. He had a vague idea as to why, and the thought kind of scared him.

_You don't even know her, _his conscience chided, _so why the hell are you so excited?_

How was he supposed to know? It was just the way he was feeling, even though he did not approve of it at all. He was never the type to be intrigued at first sight; he never believed in such things, but after what happened yesterday he was beginning to question himself.

"Hey, loverboy-" Larxene slapped the back of his head, and he whipped around in his chair to glower at her, "-time for school."

He was crankily muttering under his breath as he made his way towards the car. When he found his forgotten book bag lying idly in the back seat he groaned and thunked the back of his head against his seat; he did absolutely _no_ homework last night - he did not even bring his bag into the house when he came home from school!

He sifted through a few CDs and pushed one in; instead of the usual fast, angry music soothing acoustic guitars and whiny vocals passed through the speakers. He was in a more even mood today, for some reason; the normalcy in all of this was sort of frightening. He never had _normal_ in awhile.

He followed Axel's truck out of the parking lot and onto the freeway back towards the gated community, back to his 'other life' - the life he wished he did not have. He never asked for it and he knew he was never going to fit into it, but what other choice did he have? This was for his mother. This was for Sora.

Unfortunately morning traffic was more hectic than usual, so when they finally arrived in Brighton's student parking lot they were nearly ten minutes late. Roxas had to sprint all the way to the SS Wing; he was a little disappointed at the fact that he did not have enough time for a smoke break.

As he jogged down the hallway he could hear Mr. Watanabe's somewhat loud voice doing roll call.

"Katsura, Roxas." _Shit._

He quickened his pace and skidded to a stop by the open door, his chest heaving. "Here."

Mr. Watanabe, along with a few others, gawked at him as if he had just grown a second head. "Surprise, surprise. Two days in a row - you were never this punctual last year, Mister Katsura." The students broke out into fits of hushed laughter, and the blond could not help but smirk as he made his way towards his desk at the back of the room. The moment he sat down his eyes automatically drifted over to Naminé's desk; he cursed himself for being so weird, but at the same time he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

When class ended he made sure to wait until she left first; he slowly rose from his chair, threw his leather book bag over his shoulder and made his way towards his next class. His fingers itched uncomfortably in his pocket as they grazed over the creased cardboard of his half-finished cigarette pack, but he decided not to take a smoke; there was always lunch.

He lowered his head onto his desk for almost the entire duration of Math; he tried to make it look like he was dozing but he was really just keeping an eye on the pretty blonde girl sitting a few rows in front of him. She was talking with her cousin, as usual; if he strained his ears enough he could hear her: she sounded a little on edge, but nonetheless it was music to his ears. His heart clenched together almost painfully at the perfect ring of her voice, and he cursed himself again.

"You look a little edgy, Roxas - what's up?" Demyx pointed out during lunch; the five of them were hanging outside in the space between the student centre and the SS Wing. Larxene and Axel were sitting on top of the picnic table, while the other two seniors were seated on the actual bench part. IX scratched the side of his head before biting into his sandwich, "God, Lexaeus' sandwiches are beyond awesome."

"Did you get rejected by your girl, Roxas?" Larxene snickered, "I mean, why else would you look so bummed out?"

XIII took a long drag of his smoke before answering her. "...I haven't even talked to her yet." He mentally kicked himself for revealing his secret; he was _not_ going to hear the end of this for a long time.

"AHA!" Both VIII and XII jumped off the picnic table and pointed at the youngest blond, who was trying to enjoy his cigarette without any pointless interruptions; Axel laughed triumphantly and clapped his best friend on the back with the hand that was not holding his own smoke, "I _knew_ a girl was involved in all of this!"

"Have we seen her before?" Demyx asked in between mouthfuls of the sandwich Lexaeus prepared for him, "Does she have any classes with you?"

"Is she hot?" Axel piped up, and Larxene jabbed him painfully in the ribs with her elbow. "What?"

"She's a new student," Roxas answered timidly as he flicked the cigarette butt away, "And by coincidence I have the same classes as her - all four of them."

"Interesting," Larxene giggled, "So, what's her name?"

XIII sighed and ruffled his hair. "Her...her name's Naminé, Naminé Hinomoto - Kairi's cousin."

"Wow, you're in love with your brother's girlfriend's cousin? Would that be considered incest?" Demyx tapped his chin with an index finger, and Zexion rolled his eyes and returned to his textbook.

"I'm not _in love,"_ Roxas clenched his fists by his sides, "Like I said I haven't even talked to her yet!" His shoulders suddenly sagged and he shook his head, "But for some reason I...I can't stop thinking about her. Ever since I saw her yesterday she's all I've been thinking about, even last night when we were on that job."

"Sounds like love to me." IX shrugged, and Larxene sniggered in agreement.

"What a hopeless romantic," Axel cooed mockingly and tossed his cigarette butt away, "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll have the guts to talk to her soon." He jerked his head towards the parking lot; he was wearing his signature mischievous grin. "Say, I know just the thing to cheer you up - fetch your skateboard first."

Roxas jogged back to his car and popped the trunk to grab his skateboard; as he reached into his pocket to find the car remote his fingers bumped against his cigarette pack. He pulled it out and circled the car to the driver's seat, opened the door and tossed the pack onto the dashboard. He figured he could survive without it until after school.

When he returned to Axel's truck everyone else was already sitting inside - well, except for one; Demyx actually had the opportunity to sit in the back seat, but he wanted to prove to Axel that he could survive sitting out back so he remained in his usual spot. Roxas moved towards the back of the truck and stepped onto his skateboard, grabbing onto the ends of his best friend's beaten-up vehicle. The redhead pushed half of his body out of his open window and turned towards him. "You good?" Roxas gave him the thumbs up, and the pyromaniac grinned before starting the engine.

There was nothing like a good dangerous activity to ease the tension jumping around inside. Axel drove erratically around the parking lot, jerking the wheel wherever as Larxene laughed almost maniacally; Demyx was screaming for his life as he clutched the cab with his arms, and Roxas was grinning stupidly as the wind whipped his face and watered his eyes. Axel swerved onto the roundabout so sharply the blond thought he was going to lose his grip.

"STOP DOING THAT! I'M GONNA FALL OFF!" He heard Demyx screech, and he laughed.

"It's your fault for not sitting inside with us!" Larxene screamed from her open window; she craned her neck a little to face the youngest of the five, "Hey, how're you holding up?"

Roxas slowly let go of the truck to give her a one-handed thumbs up. Larxene laughed and returned the favour before tucking back inside. Axel swerved again, this time to turn back into the student parking lot; Demyx screamed at a pitch so high it could have came from a little girl.

"WATCH OUT, YOU STUPID-" Roxas heard Larxene bellow, and he craned his head to see what she was so frantic about.

Axel was going so fast there was nearly not enough time to avoid the parked sedan he was driving straight towards. He slammed on the brakes; the sudden stop caused Roxas to sail forward, flipping over and landing painfully on the rusty back of the truck - and on top of poor Demyx. Axel, Larxene and Zexion scrambled out of the truck to help the youngest blond up.

"Urgh," Demyx groaned, still sprawled out in the back, "What about me-"

"Hey, are you alright?" Axel helped Roxas jump off the truck and onto the pavement.

He hit his head hard when he landed on the truck, leaving a small contusion near his ear. The blond rubbed at the spot absently; he felt a little light-headed, but it did not hurt much. "It's nothing."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you." Larxene clambered into the back of the truck and pulled Demyx up; when he rose to full height he almost immediately collapsed, and the blonde rolled her eyes and threw an arm around his shoulders as she helped him out. "Useless."

Luckily Roxas kept a first-aid kit in the trunk of his car (for somebody like him it was necessary); he grabbed a small band-aid and stuck it over his wound. He also found his gym uniform and shoes; at first he was skeptical, wondering if it was even clean, but he shrugged and brought him with it anyway. He stuffed his gym things in his locker before heading to English.

When he walked in he heard his brother calling his name. "Roxas," He turned to face the brunet, who was sitting at his desk. There was worry reflecting in his vibrant blue stare, and it brought an uncomfortable ache to Roxas' chest.

"Sora," He hesitated, trying to figure out what to say; out of the corner of his eye he noticed Naminé sitting at her desk with her head cradled in her arms like she was sleeping, "Sorry for not coming home last night. Mom was probably worried sick."

His brother's eyes burned with frustration, just like he had expected them to. "Of course she was - you know she always worries about you when you run off like that!" He calmed down a bit, ducking his head and lowering his gaze to the floor, "And...I worry too."

His twin's expression only made the hurt worse; Roxas stepped over to him, making sure not to stand so close to the apparently-dozing blonde. "Sorry bro," He apologized, "I'm coming home today, I promise." He gave his brother a small smile. "After school. I'll pick you up."

Sora's expression lightened almost immediately, and he stood up to capture his blond brother in a one-armed hug. "I'll be waiting, then."

A small but noticeable sense of relief washed over him as he made his way towards his desk; at least he got the worst part over with. Now all he had to do was talk to his mother and he would be home free.

When class ended he briskly made his way back to his locker to fetch his gym things; he gave his shirt one last cautious sniff before taking it out of his locker, and he frowned when he concluded that it did not really smell foul, but that did not mean it smelled good either. He rummaged through his locker some more, grinning victoriously when he found an almost-empty glass bottle of the cologne he always wore, and dumped its remains on his gym clothes before sprinting to the PE Wing.

"How did you get your hands on your gym stuff when you weren't even home last night?" Sora asked once he entered the change room.

"I brought it with me before I left." Roxas answered almost immediately; of course his brother fell for it, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he unbuttoned his shirt.

The gym was full of students setting up badminton nets; the blond ambled towards a group that looked like they needed some help but at the same time his eyes were shifting across the large room, trying to scope out a familiar white-blonde glint.

After Mr. Tanaka explained the rules to the game he ordered everyone to divide themselves into doubles, where they would play each other in ten-minute intervals before rotating to face another pair; Roxas was stuck with a girl who seemed too keen in trying to get his attention to actually concentrate on playing badminton.

"Roxasssss…" The girl - whatever her name was, he frankly did not care - whined, tapping her racket impatiently against the polished paneled flooring, "It's my turn to serve but I don't think I know the proper way to do it…" She batted her eyelashes and he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, "Can you teach me, pretty please?"

"There really isn't much to it," He sighed, ruffling his hair as he bent over to pick up the birdie that was lying by his sneakers, "All you have to do is toss it up in the air and hit it over the net."

She pouted, disappointed that he was not going to actually _help_ her do it properly. He smirked as he tossed the birdie over to her, and she shot him a narrow stare as she stomped over to the top of the court. Girls…

The game finally commenced; Roxas ended up doing most of the work, which was not particularly a good thing since his smoking habit cut off a large part of his stamina. Despite being winded every five minutes he proved to be a very able player, capable of jumping and dashing all over the court to hit the birdie. His female companion did not do much, and it looked like she did not want to anyway; she was merely awing at the skilled blond with starry eyes as he zipped past her.

Suddenly he heard his brother's voice ring clean and quick through the air, much like a gunshot. "NAMINÉ!"

_Naminé?_ Before the blond had the chance to turn around he felt something collide into him - something _hard. _He stumbled towards the floor, but it was more out of surprise than pain; the other end of the collision, however, had a different reaction.

"Are you okay?" Sora was bent over the flaxen-haired girl, who was sitting on the floor with her hands clutching her ankle.

"I think I fell on it or something-" She turned around, and his heart stuttered when their eyes met. Her big eyes grew even bigger when she realized that it was him she had bumped into. "-er, I'm sorry-" She stammered nervously; there was a cute pink blush spreading over her pale cheeks.

This was not how he imagined them talking for the first time, but whatever - he was not complaining.

"Don't mention it," He gave her a small smile, "You look like you're in worse shape than I am, though." He helped her to her feet, inwardly awing at how small and perfect her hand felt in his. When she was on her feet she tried shifting her weight onto her ankle, but that turned out to be unsuccessful and she was about to crumple back onto the floor but he was more prepared; he boldly slipped an arm around her waist and supported her against his side, and he suppressed a grin when he spotted the pink on her face darkening into an embarrassed scarlet. He realized how much smaller she was from up close; the top of her head barely grazed his chin. The scent of her hair wafted into his nostrils and he was nearly knocked back from how easily addicting she smelled - she was not flowery like Olette or fruity like Xion; she sort of reminded him of rain: cool, clean and refreshing. _Different._

"I think you better take her to the nurse," His brunet brother piped up, shaking the blond out of his thoughts, "She probably sprained it."

"Good thinking, Katsura," Mr. Tanaka had just arrived; he nodded towards the blond, "You best bring her now before it gets any worse, er...Katsura."

"Will do," He turned around and made sure to walk slowly for her; as he made his way out of the gym he spotted his badminton partner giving him one of the nastiest glares he had ever seen and he could not help but smile to himself.

He felt Naminé's thin arm sling around his neck and he reveled in the sensation of her soft skin brushing against him. Her intoxicating, rain-esque smell was stronger now that she was even closer to his side and he could not stop grinning like he had just won the lottery; there was definitely _something_ about this girl, that was for sure. He turned to face her and tried to look serious, "Is it bad?"

Her face was strained with pain, and for some reason he felt his chest aching like he felt sorry for her. "To be honest with you, I've been through worse. Graceful isn't exactly the best word to describe me."

He laughed softly despite his surprise. How could someone so perfect-looking _not_ be graceful? "Really now - I would've imagined you to be graceful. Your cousin's into dancing, so I figured you wouldn't be that different."

"I don't think gracefulness is on my end of the gene pool." Naminé deadpanned, and he laughed a little louder this time.

"Good one." The adorable blush on her cheeks darkened even more, making her look even more tempting than she already was. They finally reached the nurse's office. "My friend here sprained her ankle," He explained politely as the nurse looked up from behind her desk, "I think she needs to be sent home."

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Roxas and the nurse helped Naminé onto the bench, and the latter rotated the poor girl's ankle. When the blonde moaned slightly from the pain the same twinge he felt earlier when he saw the hurt on her face returned. "Hm, it's pretty swollen. You probably won't be able to walk on it properly for a few days. Just ice it, and be sure to put as less weight on it as you possibly can." The nurse briefly returned to her desk to sign a slip. "I'll be signing you out early so you can go home. Will you need to be signed out as well, Mister Katsura?"

The offer was would have been tempting on any other day. "No, I'm only going to be taking her home. I'll be right back." It did not even sound like his own words when they came out of his mouth.

"Alright. Have a nice day, you two."

Naminé suddenly jumped off the bench, causing her to lose her balance; Roxas was quick to react, however, and he held out his arms at just the right time so she could fall perfectly into them. He wanted to laugh at the sheer mortification on her face; no one he knew blushed as much as she did. "S-sorry-"

"It's alright, Naminé," When the last syllable of her name rolled off the tip of his tongue he felt a strange tingling sensation humming against his teeth. He hugged her shoulders again, pressing her against his side as they left the PE Wing; it felt so fitting this way for some reason - minus the whole sprained ankle part, obviously. "Let's get you home."

He accompanied her to her locker first before leaving her outside of the SS Wing to get his car. He made sure not to dawdle, for it was rude to keep a lady waiting - his father taught him that.

"Up we go," He helped her to her feet and gently eased her into the passenger's seat of his car, but not before pausing very briefly to take in her scent once more. He could get used to this.

When he stepped into the driver's seat he noticed Naminé staring contemptuously at something on the dashboard. He turned to follow her gaze, and his eyes momentarily widened at his half-empty back of cigarettes.

He turned the engine on and backed out of the parking space. "Sorry," He gave her an apologetic smile and pressed his index finger down on the window buttons.

She shook her head; she was still bewitching even when disgusted, "Yuck."

He tousled his hair. "I know it's a bad habit."

She rolled those amazing eyes. "If you know, then why don't you quit?"

He always knew it was bad, which made it sort of ironic when he realized he never thought of quitting before. It sounded like a sensible idea - it was always best to quit early when it came to these sorts of things - and there was always that slight chance he would benefit even _more_ from just breaking a bad habit…

"Okay. I will."

He was so, _so_ tempted to just lean in towards her and bury his face in her hair when she glanced downwards and fumbled with her fingers. "W-what? Just like that?"

He tried his best to keep his cool, collected persona. He shrugged nonchalantly as he drove through the roundabout. "Sure. I have to if I want to live longer, right?"

"Are you serious?"

Roxas laughed at the wariness in her voice, and he reached upwards to ruffle his hair again. In a whim he grabbed the pack of cigarettes and tossed it out of his window. He gave her a smirk as she glanced outwards, trying to find it. "Convincing enough?"

Despite the obvious shock on her angel's face she was shaking her head. "What if you have another pack lying around somewhere?"

Hm, that was a reasonable question. "I don't, honest," Then, unable to help himself he added, "You don't trust me?"

His favourite blush crept back onto her face. "N-no - well...er," Her nervous stuttering mirrored his erratic pulse, "I m-mean...I hardly know you…"

Again, reasonable. He wracked his brain for a way to bring this up a level or two. "True. Okay, we'll make a deal, then. From now on, if you catch me with a cigarette-"

"I have the right to slap it out of your hands and lecture you on how it'll be the death of you, even if it's in front of all your friends," Her interruption only made his smile broader, "And if a week passes and I don't see you with one-"

"You'll go out with me next Friday." Though his expression seemed serene, on the inside it felt as if a thousand alarms were going off.

_Honestly, _his conscience butted in again, _Just who do you think you are? _Luxord? _Smooth, Roxas, smooth._

Her eyes were wide again, and he loved it. "W-what?"

_This isn't going to work. Don't be stupid - tell her you were joking!_

He pushed his nagging thoughts out of his head and smiled for her. "If I'm clean by next Tuesday I'll take you out." He rolled down the window and stated his name and purpose, and then the gates to the Hinomoto manor opened.

"Er," Naminé was trying to find words as he drove towards the manor, "Uh-"

He laughed at her cuteness; his hands twitched but they remained firm on the steering wheel. "Were you always this articulate?" When she did nothing but blush, he chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Y-yes," She managed to say as one of her butlers - Geoferry - opened her door and helped her outside, "It's a yes."

"See you tomorrow?" Roxas automatically blurted - _wait, who said I was going to be at school tomorrow?_

_Maybe it's because you have a better reason to be there now._

"Of course, this isn't going to stop me-" She paused for a minute, and then turned to look at him questionably, "-wait, I thought you never go to class."

Huh, so maybe that conversation she had with his brother during lunch yesterday was about him. "If I never go to class, how will you check up on me?" He shifted gears and the car began to move forward. "See you, then."

"See you." He heard her mumble before Geoferry shut the door.

Roxas could not help but chuckle to himself as he drove out of the Hinomoto property. He ruffled his hair with one hand as he slowly made his way back to the school, feeling like he had just overthrown Superior and was now in charge of The XIII; the utterly flabbergasted look etched all over Naminé's pretty face was still fresh in his mind as he turned into the parking lot.

This was going to be one hell of a week.

--

_A/N: So _that's_ why __Naminé kept smelling his cologne..._

_I felt like being mean to Axel in this chapter; don't get me wrong - I love the guy, but really...the things he says sometimes are questionable._

_Zexion seems like an oatmeal-in-the-morning guy for some reason…_

_The acoustic music Roxas was playing in his car were by City and Colour: _Casey's Song _and _What Makes A Man?


	4. Thank God You See Me The Way You Do

**Thank God You See Me The Way You Do.**

Roxas was sure Axel knew something was up when the blond decided to visit headquarters after school; the redhead was gaping at him incredulously when he told him that he was planning on giving up smoking.

"You're not joking, aren't you?" When Roxas nodded the pyromaniac groaned and pressed his back against the brick wall. "You're not joking."

"Hey, it's a bad habit," The blond shrugged as he hoisted himself up to sit on the balcony, "And I want to be able to live longer."

"Just a couple weeks ago you told me you didn't care what happens to you and that you wouldn't be surprised if you rolled over and died before you turned thirty." Axel raised a skeptical eyebrow as he reached into his pocket for his own pack of cigarettes. "There's gotta be a reason why you've suddenly changed opinions."

Roxas shrugged and rumpled the back of his hair, though his eyes were trained on his best friend's cigarette. "I just want to be healthier, that's all."

"It's because of that Naminé chick, isn't it?" The redhead guffawed as he flipped his lighter open; he eyed the shocked look on his friend's face and it only made him laugh harder. "Yep, I knew it - you're going soft on me 'cause of some girl. Cute, Roxas - real cute." He chuckled and took a drag. "You're gonna play this whole bad-boy-on-the-outside-but-wilting-flower-on-the-inside persona to get her attention, and then when you've got her totally convinced - BAM!" He spread his arms wide, "You've got yourself an easy fuck."

XIII rolled his eyes; he could smell the nicotine in the air and his hands subconsciously clenched into fists. "That's not what I'm going for, Axel."

"Why not? You're young - live a little!"

"One: I have a little thing for her called respect-"

"Oh, so that's what they call it now?"

Roxas glared at him. "-Two: Since when have I ever done that to a girl before?" When Axel gave him a knowing look his eyes narrowed even more. "You know I _never_ thought about Olette in that way - not even once!"

The redhead held his hands up. "Chill - it's just kind of easy to assume so 'cause of the whole summer romance thing." He shook his head and plucked the smoke out of his mouth. "Really, Roxas - you've only started talking to this girl today and you're already starting to change! What's up with that?"

The blond shook his head, unsure of how to answer his best friend's question. "I...I really don't know, Axel." He ruffled his hair and shook his head again. "There's just...something about her, I guess. Even when I think of her I feel different."

The redhead snickered, unable to help himself. "That's what you call _getting a hard-on,_ my dear friend." When Roxas shot him another glare he shrugged. "What - you're a perfectly normal teenage boy going through perfectly normal teenage things. It's natural!"

"I don't think of her like that," XIII muttered, though there was a light pink spread across his cheeks, "It's more of...a fascination. I'm infatuated with her, really." His eyes lit up with the memory of the events that happened just a few hours ago. "You should see her for yourself - she's really something else. She's got blonde hair that's so light, it's almost silvery when the sun's on it, and her eyes, God - they're gorgeous! They're big with long eyelashes, and they're the most interesting shade of blue-"

"Whoa - calm your hormones, Romeo," Axel chuckled as his friend sheepishly stared down at his fingers; the redhead flicked the cigarette off the balcony and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Look, buddy, don't get me wrong - I'm happy that you're head-over-heels for this girl; I mean, it's been awhile and you've been brooding over that Olette chick for months so it's nice to see that you're sort of acting like your old self again, but at the same time I want you to make sure that you actually _pay_ attention to her."

Roxas glanced upwards at his best friend, astounded by his words. "W-what?"

"Don't _w-what_ me, idiot," VIII smirked, "I'm just sayin' - if you want this to work you need to spend time with her, y'know? Get to know her better and shit. You can't expect her to fall in love with you if you're running around with us all the time."

"I know," The blond frowned, "I was stupid for doing that to Olette. I've learned from my mistakes - I know better now."

"That's good to hear," Axel chuckled, "But now you've got another problem: what are you gonna do about Xion?"

The image of the sweet ebony-haired girl flashed behind Roxas' eyes and he cringed. "I haven't even thought of her yet," He groaned as he pressed the back of his head against the brick wall, "What am I supposed to do? I can't just tell her about Naminé!"

"Of course you can't," The pyromaniac agreed, "But at the same time you can't lead her on when you know you don't feel the same way." He chuckled and placed his hands behind his head. "I'm glad I'm not in your position."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

He left for home soon afterward, dreading the inevitable meeting with his mother. Like he expected she was waiting for him by the bottom of the glass steps.

She ambled towards her son and captured him in a tight hug. "Oh, Roku-" She pulled away from him at arms' length and he inwardly cringed at the shiny dots of tears protruding from his mother's brilliant blue eyes, "-I was so worried about you-"

"I'm really sorry," He apologized hastily as he tried to suppress the guilt pulsating inside of him, "I'll try not to do it again." He was giving her the same old excuse, but he knew she was going to fall for it.

"Please, Roxas - you know how Sora and I worry about you." The solemn expression his mother was wearing was not unfamiliar.

"I know," He mussed up his hair, "I'm trying, really."

She hugged her son again. "I know you are, Roku." She smiled, though the rest of her face remained melancholy. She gently pushed him towards the stairs. "You run along now."

Roxas planted a swift kiss on his mother's cheek and turned around to dash up the stairs, but before he stepped forward he felt his mother's hand on his shoulder.

"Oh - I forgot," She smiled sheepishly at him, "I want you to know that I've invited the Hinomotos over for dinner."

His heart jumped at her words for some reason. "Really? When?"

"Two days from now," She replied; the teasing smile she was wearing gave him the impression that she knew why he looked so surprised, "So be sure to be here!"

He grinned and nodded. "There's no way I'll be missing that dinner, mark my words." Roxas finally made his way up the stairs afterward with excitement bouncing around in his stomach. Before his hand reached the doorknob to his room, however, Sora appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stepped in between with a sly grin on his face.

"What?" The blond quirked an eyebrow at his brother.

Sora's grin widened. "Tell me what happened when you took Naminé home and then you can go into your room."

Roxas groaned and smacked his forehead with the heel of his palm. "Nothing _happened,_ Sora-"

"Oh yeah? Then why did Kairi call me five minutes ago to tell me to ask you if you wanted to double date with us on the weekend?"

The blond's eyes widened, and he groaned again when his brother doubled over in laughter. "Okay, okay," Roxas sighed as he frustratingly pulled his fingers through his hair, "I'll tell you what happened, God."

The brunet leaned casually against the wall with his arms crossed. "I'm listening."

"Uh," Roxas' fingers were swiping faster through his hair, "I _kind of_ asked her out."

"AHA!" Sora pointed at him, and the blond stepped back in surprise, "I knew it, I knew it!"

_"Kind of,_ bro - keywords _kind of."_

"How the heck did you _kind of_ ask her out?"

"We sort of made a deal," Roxas frowned as he leaned against the wall beside his brother, "If I don't smoke one cigarette by next Tuesday I'll take her out the following Friday."

Sora's face lit up. "Hey, that's a pretty good deal - this way you'll quit _and_ you'll get over...er, you-know-who."

He never really thought of it like that before. "I guess," The blond shrugged; he nodded towards his door, "Can I go in now?"

The brunet stepped to the side. "Sure." He opened the door for him, bowed and gestured inside, like how a butler would do. "Your living quarters, sir."

Roxas rolled his eyes and playfully shoved his brother aside before walking in. "Shut up, man." He shook his head as he closed the door behind him, trying to block out Sora's laughter. He dumped his bag on the floor and hurried into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change out of his school uniform; he emerged ten minutes later wearing a white t-shirt and black mesh shorts.

He glanced at his bag and decided to do homework since there was not anything else he could do; thankfully since it was only the second day of school there was not a lot to get done, so he was finished within the hour. He swiveled around in his seat, glancing at the apocalypse that was his room; what should he do now? Clean it? No...it was only going to get messy again.

His dark blue eyes drifted over to his guitar and he briefly debated about it, but in the end he decided not to. He had been stuck with artist's block so there was no point.

His fingers started to itch again and he instinctively dug his hands into the pockets of his shorts to look for his pack of cigarettes, but then he remembered his bet with Naminé and he cringed; great, how was he going to suppress his craving now?

He sat on the edge of his bed and forced himself to think of a substitute for his nicotine addiction. Was there something _else_ that he was addicted to?

_Naminé, obviously._

Not what he had in mind…

He groaned and pushed his fingers through his hair, resting his elbows on his thighs and leaning forward so that he stared at the floor. He stood up and paced his room, placing his twitching hands behind his back. An irritating tingly feeling was growing in the centre of his chest and he cursed himself; quitting was going to be harder than he thought.

He figured that eating something would help satisfy his craving for now; he rushed to the kitchen and wrenched the door open to the fridge, scouring its contents for practically anything. He drank some fruit juice straight from the carton (he made sure his mother was not around first), stole a few pieces of sushi that Sora made for himself and briefly contemplated on whether he should eat that funny looking stir-fry (he did not). Unfortunately his nicotine craving was still plaguing him, so he decided to see what there was to eat in the freezer.

A white box caught his attention; he raised an eyebrow as he pulled it out and lifted the top flap. His eyes lit up when he found at least six rows of sea-salt ice cream sticks packed inside - _perfect!_

He took one, placed the box back inside the freezer and removed the clear plastic wrapping. After chucking the wrap into the rubbish bin he licked the bright blue ice cream and nearly rolled his eyes back from how relieving it felt; the tension bunching up inside of him had vanished and his senses were completely attuned to the taste of the ice cream. He grinned childishly as he made his way back up to his room, licking his popsicle cheerily; who needs nicotine gum when they have sea-salt ice cream?

The ice cream worked so well, in fact, that he ate a couple more sticks before he went to bed, and he even ate one for breakfast the next morning. Sora was amusedly shaking his head in the car as the blond drove to school with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand holding yet another stick of sea-salt ice cream.

"Lemme guess - this is your substitute for cigarettes?"

"Bingo." Roxas pulled into the parking lot and eased into the closest available space. He waved his brother goodbye before searching the lot for Axel's truck; like he expected it was nowhere to be found.

_Guess it's just me today._ He dumped the popsicle stick into a nearby rubbish bin and casually made his way towards the SS Building, amazed at the fact that he was actually going to be _on time_ and _present_ today. Third time in a row...this had to be a new record.

Mr. Watanabe was shocked when he walked into class, and so were the other students. Roxas suppressed a smirk as he made his way towards the back of the class, but when his eyes traveled over to Naminé he noticed a pair of metal crutches leaning against the side of her desk. He did not think it was _that_ bad…

When History ended he worriedly watched the blonde hobble out of class; the embarrassed look on her face gave him the impression that she was forced to use those crutches instead of actually _needing_ to use them. He frowned and ruffled his hair as he left the room, contemplating on whether he should talk to her or something, but by the time he made up his mind he was standing in front of the door to Math.

He sighed as he lowered himself onto his desk, trying his best to keep his gaze away from Naminé, but it was no use; he was drawn to her. He flipped his pencil in his hands as he tried to concentrate on his schoolwork, but every now and then he would glance upwards to stare at the blonde girl sitting a few rows in front of him and every time it happened he would inwardly kick himself for being so ungentlemanly.

Math thankfully ended and he zipped to the student centre towards the cafeteria; he rummaged through the freezer and pulled out two sticks of sea-salt ice cream, jogged over to the lunch lady to pay for the frozen treats and walked back into the main room. It was already half-full with hungry students and eager conversation; Roxas eyed the table where the pretty blonde girl was sitting and began to make his way towards it.

When he arrived at the table Naminé was so immersed in her conversation with her friends that she did not even notice him - in fact his brother was the one who noticed.

"Er, Naminé?" The brunet leaned over his girlfriend to tap the blonde on the shoulder, and Roxas smirked and shook his head in amusement.

"What is it-" She turned around, and when she finally acknowledged his presence her eyes widened and her face reddened, "-WAH!" She yelped in surprise, leaning backwards against her cousin.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to play it cool. "Hello, Naminé," He was standing right by the head of the table; he was so close to her he swore he could smell the invigorating rainy scent of her hair, "Care to have lunch with me today?" His smile widened when she began to rise from her seat, grabbing her crutches.

"Erm, okay." He helped her to her feet and adjusted the crutches underneath her arms so she was comfortable. He heard Olette and her new boyfriend suppressing their giggles, and he could not help but chuckle as he nodded courteously towards them before helping Naminé out of the cafeteria. Seeing the brunette with that blond was a little painful, but it did not hurt as much as before; he had more important things to focus on at the moment.

"Where are your friends?" She was glancing up at him with those wonderful eyes of hers; her angel's voice was soft, shy and curious.

He opened the door for her and led her outside, rumpling his hair with his free hand. "Ditched." He eyed the PE Wing protruding from the back and turned towards her. "Think you can make it?"

She shrugged her shoulders, and he wanted to laugh at how cute she looked. "Ah, we're gonna have Gym later on anyway so I might as well get used to it."

Roxas guided her over to the soccer field and helped her onto the bleachers; because of her crutches they could not get up as far as he would have liked, but then again there were other days where they had the opportunity.

_Heh, optimistic now aren't we? _His conscience teased; he decided to ignore it as he helped her to sit down. "When the others ditch class and I'm the only one in school, I often come here."

Naminé closed her eyes against the breeze and a small smile hovered over her small lips. Her long, dark lashes were skimming her pallid cheeks and the gentle autumn wind rustled her fair hair; the sight was sublime, no doubt. "It's nice," She murmured, "Quiet."

He could not help but smile. "That's the point." As his eyes drifted towards the sky he decided to take things up a notch. "So you're not going to ask if I've smoked today?"

"Oh!" Her eyes opened as she swerved around to face him, "Wait, even if I _do_ ask you can always lie."

He tousled his hair. "I won't." He answered honestly.

The blonde girl did not look convinced. "Aren't you supposed to be all jittery and cranky from not having a smoke for so long? You're acting awfully calm for someone trying to quit cold turkey."

He chuckled and turned to look at her; the sun flickered in her eyes, alternating between different shades of light blue. "Good observation."

"So...you _did_ have a cigarette." She sounded disappointed.

"Nope - I found a substitute." He laughed when she tilted her head to the side and glanced at him curiously; could she get any cuter? "Whenever I have a craving I take one of these instead." He gestured towards his arm with the plastic bag containing the ice cream.

Naminé began to lean in towards him, trying to see what was inside the bag. The wind carried her scent over to him and he suppressed the urge to reach for her. "Marijuana? Coffee? That gum...what's it called…" She murmured to herself, trying to figure out what he had for her.

Roxas chuckled as he pulled out the sticks of sea-salt ice cream. He disposed of the wrapping and handed one over to her, and he laughed again when he eyed her ogling the bright blue treat. "Sea-salt ice cream," He smiled for her, "It's been my favourite ever since I was a kid."

"I've seen Pence with one of these on the first day of school." She licked it and recoiled almost immediately; again he wanted to laugh at how cute she was. "It's so salty!" Soon afterward, however, she relaxed and her big eyes widened even more. "...But sweet."

He did not know how much more of her he could take; he chuckled and shook his head. "That's the best part about it - you don't know whether to call it salty or sweet." He nodded over the the plastic bag. "I don't think you've actually eaten lunch yet, so I brought a sandwich for you."

Her cheeks reddened adorably. "T-thanks." She began to tug on her hair. "I'll eat it after I finish this."

They elapsed into silence after that, but it was not an uncomfortable one. He leaned back and gazed towards the soccer field, listening to the wind swish through their clothing. He watched the blonde out of the corner of his eye and suppressed a smile; he found it kind of funny how a girl he had known for not even two days was already making such a great impact on him. Everything about her was enchanting: her hair, her eyes, her lips, her skin, her voice - she was bewitching him and he was not even sure if she noticed it.

When he turned his head to face her he noticed that Naminé's shoulders were trembling very slightly; he would have not noticed it if he was not already paying careful attention to her. "Are you cold? You're shaking."

"No," She shook her head quickly, "It's probably just the pop-"

Roxas stuck his popsicle in his mouth so he could remove his blazer; he leaned forward to sweep the navy jacket over her shoulders, and he flattened the sleeves and tugged the lapels around her so that she was nice and snug. He returned his popsicle to his hand and smirked triumphantly. "There, much better."

"You're nicer than you look." He could feel her eyes on the bandages on his face and he felt a little self-conscious. "Why do you do all those things anyway? I saw you yesterday on your skateboard."

He frowned and rumpled the side of his hair; he never expected her to ask him such a profound question. "For the thrill, I guess. I like that feeling you get when you're about to do something dangerous; the rush of adrenaline surging through you and the way your heart pounds like it's going to explode...it's exhilarating. Plus you only live once." Not a great answer, but it would have to do for now.

Like he expected Naminé did not seem convinced; she scoffed as she pulled out the sandwich. "Yeah, but if you only live once why are you risking everything by doing stupid things? Shouldn't you try and look for a _safer_ way to enjoy life?"

She was smart, no doubt - which gave him an idea. "Hey, when is it my turn to ask the questions?" He leaned forward, pressing his arms on his knees; he was so close to her flushed face, to her mesmerizing pale blue stare. Her rain-like scent overwhelmed his senses and he tried to keep his focus. "Let's play a game."

"W-what?" When she glanced up at him she nearly jumped back from surprise.

He chuckled and leaned back. "We'll take turns asking questions, and the both of us have to answer it. We have to be as detailed as we possibly can, and we can pass questions if we want but that means the both of us aren't answering it."

She was so irresistible when she was embarrassed. Her face was very red and her eyes were glued to her sandwich. One of her hands was tugging on the little strand of hair sticking out at the back of her head. "Uh - erm...can we ask about anything?"

"Sure. Only rule: the questions we ask have to apply to the both of us so we can answer them fairly."

She began to fidget with her hands. "Um, okay. You ask the first question since I asked you before."

"Alright," He smiled, "Where are you from?"

She was even prettier when she was all riled up; her small hands tensed into fists, her eyes flickered and her pink mouth tugged downwards in an angry frown. "Hey, you said that we have to ask questions that apply to the _both_ of us! I already know where you're from!"

He decided to play around with her a bit, just to see how much prettier she would get if he angered her further. "No you don't."

Naminé's big blue eyes narrowed. "Yes I do - you lived in the city before."

Roxas' lips stretched into a smirk. "But you don't know which city."

He laughed when she slapped her own forehead. "Why does it even matter?"

He knew from the start that he was not going to get tired of this. "You still haven't answered my question."

She heaved a sigh and her expression softened somewhat. "I live in Twilight Town with my parents."

His heart stuttered at her words; did she say what he _thought_ she said? "Oh? Whereabouts?"

She exhaled sharply before finally biting into her sandwich. "That's another question."

He raised an eyebrow. "Remember what I said about being detailed?"

She sighed. "Sunset Hill." She mumbled in defeat.

His pulse began to beat irregularly when he heard her reply; he shifted his fingers through his hair and shook his head in disbelief. "Hm, what a coincidence. My father just moved there - I'm visiting him this summer with my brother."

Naminé looked just as surprised as he did; her cheeks were red again and her fingers were twitching against the bread of her sandwich. "W-wow," She was shaking her head too, and he chuckled at her abashed expression. She calmed down somewhat and breathed in deep. "Okay, now you answer."

"I've lived most of my life in the city closest to this area - Deyton. I'll take you there next Friday." He already had plans for what they were going to do next week, and he could not help but smile when he thought of it.

"You seem pretty confident about our bet." He should be - she had no idea how hard he was trying! The fact that Axel almost _always_ had a smoke on him whenever he saw him was not a big help either.

He chuckled. "Very." On a whim he leaned forward and reached towards her to flick back a strand of platinum blonde that was straying away from the rest of her hair. His fingers accidentally touched the skin of her neck and his heart short-circuited when he realized how soft and smooth it felt. "It's your turn to ask, by the way." He said as he drew back; he was beginning to feel a little lightheaded for some reason.

Roxas already knew what she wanted to say just by reading the abashed expression on her pretty face. "Er…" She began to fiddle with her sandwich, and he chuckled.

"I know what you want to ask." She blushed at his words and he tried his best to hold in his laughter. "Just say it."

"Were you in any past relationships?" Naminé asked quickly; she was very red at this point, and she was turning away from him so he would not see the worst of her embarrassment.

He sat still for a few moments, contemplating her question; it was a hard one to answer, but it was not because he did not have anything to say. "I thought you knew about Olette." It was easy to assume.

"Y-yeah, but I don't know the details," Her voice was even quieter than it usually was, "But I understand if you wanna pass-"

He did not know why, but he felt compelled to answer her question anyway. "We lasted for around two years - actually, it wasn't even two years since I only saw her during the summertime, and when I was in the area I hardly spent time with her." Reliving the awful memories caused a harrowing pain to echo inside of him. "I was selfish and stupid - I didn't realize I was hurting her until it was too late," He shook his head, ridding himself of the condescending thoughts and tried to smile, "But I guess there's nothing else I can do. What's passed has passed, right?"

When he glanced into her beautiful blue-grey hues the pain reverberating inside of him magically lifted. He eyed the guilty expression etched all over her perfect face and he felt the temptation to reach out towards her scratching the lining of his stomach like a caged animal. "Yeah." She mumbled as she picked at her sandwich; her eyes widened when she remembered that they were still playing their little game, and he wanted to laugh when her cheeks coloured. "Oh, as for me - no, I haven't been in any. I never really understood the people back home...or maybe it's the other way around."

He shook his head in disbelief; it was hard to believe that the people back in Twilight Town were _not_ interested in her. She was so intriguing - at least to him. "But you're worth trying to figure out." His heart soared when her blush worsened, and he wanted to sigh when she turned away. "Now it's my turn again. Are you currently in a relationship?" He glanced at his phone and helped Naminé to her feet, reaching for her crutches. "The bell's going to ring soon - we should start heading to English."

"N-no," She handed back his blazer once they reached the grass, "And you?"

Her answer did wonders to his already-fluttering heartbeat, and he smiled for her. "No."

"Erm," She spoke up timidly as they made their way back towards the Arts Wing, "What's your favourite pastime?"

He chucked the plastic bag into the rubbish bin. "Is that all you can come up with?" He laughed when she blushed yet again. "Aside from skateboarding I play the guitar. My mother stressed on music when Sora and I were growing up."

Naminé's eyes widened in disbelief; he could not help but laugh at her expression. "Sora plays too?"

Childhood memories sifted behind Roxas' eyes and he smiled reminiscently. "You really don't want to know how many instruments he ran through - there was the piano, violin, guitar, saxophone, trumpet...I think he even tried the flute."

She suppressed her laugh with an unladylike snort, but he found it cute nonetheless. "Did he ever find an instrument he was at least decent in?"

He led the smaller blonde towards the elevator and waited for her to hobble inside. "Surprisingly, yes; he found his place behind a drum set. He can't play a tune to save his life, but at least he's got a sense of rhythm...sort of." When they reached the second floor he remembered to walk slow so he could match his pace with hers. "I sort of already know what you do in your spare time - it's drawing, right?"

She nodded reticently. "Yes, but I also paint. Kairi gave me a studio that's adjoined to my room, but I haven't done anything in it yet."

He smiled for her. "I'd like to see your work someday."

Her answering grin was more than enough to send him through a whirlwind of positive emotions. "Only if you'll let me hear you play!"

He opened the door for her and chuckled as she tottered inside. "It's a deal."

Their little question game continued on for the remainder of the day; Roxas enjoyed every minute of it, milking out every possible detail from her. He had an unexplained desire to get to know her more for some reason; his nagging conscience kept telling him to hold back, but he had no desire to listen to it. Naminé was intriguing to him - she was different. She made him feel different, and in a sense she even made him look at the world from a different perspective. Granted, they had only _really_ started talking today but when the chemistry was this strong it obviously meant something.

He could not take his eyes off of her on the walk back to her locker; Sora was giving him secretive sly looks from the corner of his eyes but he ignored them. His brother finally decided to pester him verbally when they bid farewell to Naminé and her cousin and clambered into the blond's gunmetal BMW.

"Was lunch fun?" The brunet asked teasingly as he buckled his seatbelt, and Roxas groaned as he turned the key into the ignition.

"Yes, Sora, it was fun," He grumbled as he backed out of the parking space, "We talked and played a little question game to get to know each other more."

His twin giggled childishly, and the blond rolled his eyes. "Gee, Roku - I never knew you'd be so cheesy when it comes to girls," He touched his chin with his index finger and his eyes drifted towards the ceiling, "But then again I guess it kinda suits you…"

Roxas' head snapped in his brother's direction. "What do you mean by that?" He asked sharply as Sora laughed harder.

"I dunno," The brunet shrugged, "It just seems so..._you_ to play a freaking question game with a girl!" He chuckled and rubbed the back of his spiky brown head, "What else are you planning to do, Roxas? Are you gonna woo her at the dinner tomorrow night?"

He rolled his eyes again as he switched lanes. "It's _just_ a dinner thing, Sora, and plus - what kind of wooing can I do when there'll be adults there?"

His brother gave him a disturbingly suggestive grin. "Oh, so what you had in mind is inappropriate?"

_God. _"Sora, I am literally _this_ close to throwing you out of the car," Roxas growled, though his brother was still laughing to the point where tears were squeezing out of the corner of his eyes, "And you know I'll do it!"

"Alright, alright," Sora sighed and held his hands up in defeat, "I'm done." He scratched the side of his head as the car rolled into the Katsura property. "So I'm guessing that you and Naminé are really hitting it off? Your expression when Gym ended kinda gave it all away."

Roxas could feel the beginnings of a blush creeping up on his cheeks. "I honestly don't know what's wrong with me," He frowned as he stepped out of the car and tossed the keys over to Frederiction, "It's only been two days and I'm fascinated with her. She's so interesting - I've found out so many little details about her today!" He hoisted his book bag over his shoulder as his brother opened the door to the house, "She's deathly afraid of thunderstorms and large dogs, she's a bit of a neat freak, she's got a soft spot for acoustic music and her favourite food is-"

"I get it," Sora chuckled, and Roxas' embarrassment worsened, "Y'know, normally I would've been laughing so hard I'd be rolling around on the floor but today's different." He clapped his brother on the back as they made their way up the glass steps. "I haven't seen you this happy in a long time, Roku, and it's making me happy too. After the Olette incident I didn't think I'd ever see you in such high spirits again."

The blond sheepishly ruffled his hair. "Well, like I said earler - she's different."

Sora shook his head and opened the door to his room. "I hope everything works out this time, bro."

Roxas blinked at his brother's door as it closed softly in front of him, but then he shook it off and made his way into his own room. He sighed and tossed his book bag on his bed before loosening his tie and walking into the closet to change into more comfortable clothing. When he emerged wearing a shirt and shorts he found a text message waiting for him on his phone:

_hey, havent heard from u in awhile. wanna hang out sometime? call me asap!_

When he read Xion's number at the top of the screen he cringed; he was spending so much time in trying to talk to Naminé that he almost completely forgot about her! He sighed and decided to leave the text alone for now, figuring that he'd spend some time with her after the dinner. He was going to be with her on the weekend anyways - maybe she could wait until then.

Her face popped up in his head again, and he groaned and flopped backwards against the mattress.

_Maybe not. _

_--_

_A/N: Now you know where Kairi gets her pervertedness from.  
_

_More soft music! Roxas was listening to Iron And Wine music this time: _My Lady's House, _which I have named the chapter after and _Such Great Heights.


	5. Moving In So Slow

_A/N: I apologize for the late update - school and writer's block have finally caught up with me, and it's ironic saying that 'cause really...all I have to do is take a chapter from _Shine_ and write it in Roxas' POV, but I'm only discovering now that it's harder than it sounds!_

_By the way, to those of you who read my most recent oneshot, _Inferno, _I set up a new poll on my profile regarding it. I encourage you to take a look and vote!_

_Title is taken from the story's main inspiration: _So Contagious _by Acceptance._

_--_

**Moving In So Slow.**

Xion's text message haunted poor Roxas for the rest of the evening.

He had no idea how to answer it, though he knew it was just a simple question. He sat on the edge of his bed doing nothing but staring dismally into the screen of his cell phone, reading the dreaded text over and over again. The guilt was swelling inside of him, expanding like a hot-air balloon, and by the time he finally decided to sleep for the night the guilt was so great he feared he would not be able to breathe.

Roxas somehow managed to drift off to sleep, however; for some reason he sort of had a feeling as to why he was able to sleep but he did not want to think about it because it would only make him feel embarrassed. He felt better in the morning, and he made sure to eat another stick of sea-salt ice cream before driving to school.

When he clambered out of the car and waved goodbye to his brother his phone began to ring. When he found Axel's name blinking on his cell phone screen he raised an eyebrow before holding the small device to his ear. "What is it?"

"You're at school _again?"_ Axel sounded aghast, "Really, Roxas - you're serious about this girl, aren't you?" In the background there was the not-so-subtle sound of Larxene and Demyx snickering.

The blond rolled his blue eyes as he made his way towards the SS Wing. "You're making it sound as if this is a big deal-"

"It is," The redhead interjected, "Superior's got another job for us today and he expects you to show up!"

"I can't make it tonight," Roxas sighed, "I have a dinner thing and my mom's counting on me to be there."

The pyromaniac groaned. "Is it really that important?"

The blond pushed the doors to the SS Wing open and sifted his way through the throng of students. "Yeah," He replied over the buzz of various conversations swirling around him, "The, er, Hinomotos were invited - it's only common sense that I'm there to show them that I'm a good host."

He cringed when he heard Axel's sharp, exasperated exhale. "Why did I have a feeling Naminé was involved in all of this…"

"Really, Axel - what do you have against her?"

"Nothing, except for the fact that because of her you're all goo-goo-eyed and distracted!" He could almost hear his best friend's eyes rolling, "Don't get me wrong - it's great you're over that Olette chick but don't you think you're going a little too far on the Naminé thing? I mean, it's only been a few days!"

"Don't think I haven't thought of that already," Roxas muttered as he trudged up the stairs, "It's kind of frightening that I already feel so attached to her, but like I've told you many times before I can't help it - I'm drawn to her for reasons I can't explain!" He sighed and brushed his fingers through his hair. "Look, tell Superior I'm really sorry I can't make it tonight - this dinner seems important to my mother and I can't disappoint her; I've done that too many times already."

"Fine, fine-" He could hear Larxene and Demyx muttering something unintelligible in the background, "-I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"Later." The blond pocketed his phone as he sauntered into class; the first thing his eyes laid on was, of course, Naminé. He noticed that the metal crutches were nowhere to be found, and judging by the dazed expression on her pretty face she was thinking about something. Curious, he approached her slowly and leaned in; he was so close he could smell the addicting scent of her hair, and he briefly closed his eyes in ecstasy.

"Looks like you're getting better," He murmured into her ear; Naminé jumped in shock, snapping out of her daydream, and he could not help but laugh. "Did I do that?"

When she realized it was only him her shoulders dropped and she bent over to reach for her textbook. "Yes," Her voice was lower than usual, probably from embarrassment, "Do you take pleasure in scaring me? If I remember correctly you did the same thing during lunch yesterday."

Feeling uncharacteristically daring today Roxas lowered himself into the desk adjacent to hers. He smiled slyly at the adorably diffident expression on her angel's face. He could hear the conspicuous whispering of their fellow students but it was not of much importance to him. "It's not like I mean to scare you - you're just not paying attention."

"Did you have your ice cream this morning?" He could not blame her for sounding so suspicious; his light mood was a shock even to him, "You're still not as twitchy as I expected you to be."

Her spot-on observation was amusing, no doubt. "Yes, yes I did. You're being quite persistent on this, aren't you?

She smiled and leaned into her palm; the perfection radiating off of her was enough to strike him dumb. The sun peering in from the window stretched over her fair hair and it flickered in her blue eyes; she almost appeared to be glowing. "Isn't that a good thing?"

He sighed in content; if he could he would stare at her all day. "Of course it is."

It was nearly impossible to pay attention in class when he was fully aware of the girl he was fascinated with sitting right beside him; he could almost smell that rainy scent he grew to love so much in such a short amount of time, and the silvery flash of her hair would glint in his eyes every few minutes. Once in awhile she would let out an angelic sigh, clearly bored of the lecture, and she would lean farther and farther forward on her desk until her arms were pillowing her head. Of course he was not looking at her directly; he would glance at her every few minutes from the corner of his eye.

Class finally ended, but Naminé did not seem to notice; she was staring ahead with the same dreamy look in her eyes from before. Chuckling, Roxas leaned in towards her again and whispered, "Naminé, it's time for Math."

There was a hint of an embarrassed blush on her pallid cheeks as she stood up and retrieved her bag, and he shook his head in amusement as he waited for her by the door. She was unusually quiet as they made their way to their next class, and Roxas had an idea it had something to do with why she looked so distracted.

"Are you alright?" He asked, worry etched in his voice, "You haven't said a word since class ended."

"Yes," Her voice was automatic and mechanical, "I'm okay."

He concluded that she was not very good at lying. "No you're not," His conclusion was only further supported by the way her blush worsened; an idea concocted inside of his head and he smirked, "Okay, I've got another question to ask."

She cringed. "I'm listening."

He suppressed the urge to grin. "What are you thinking about right now?"

Naminé's wonderfully blue eyes dropped to the floor. "Do I really have to answer that?" Her voice was endearingly shy.

Hm, so it was something she did _not_ want to tell him...interesting. "You can pass, remember?"

She looked so adorable, he had to restrain himself from reaching out to her. He was taken aback, however, when her expression suddenly changed from cute to frustrated; she threw her hands up in the air and let out a big sigh. "How the heck do you do that?"

He blinked in confusion. "Do what?"

Her eyes narrowed as she pushed the doors to the SM Wing open. "You cornered me in! You _know _what I'm thinking, but you just want me to say it out loud!"

Oh, this was getting interesting indeed. "I don't know what you're talking about." Though her assumption was incorrect he could not stop himself from smiling; the expression on her face was priceless. "Hey, you haven't answered my question yet. Or are you passing it?"

Naminé rolled her big blue eyes. "Tell me what you think I'm thinking first, and then I'll answer your stupid question."

Roxas turned towards the stairs. "Hold on," He quickly threw his arm around her middle and pulled her closer to him; the contact between their bodies made his heart go haywire but he tried to keep his composure. Judging by the maroon colour painted on the smaller blonde's cheeks she was just as embarrassed as he was. "Grab onto the railing, Naminé."

Her face was still red, but her eyes were narrow. "Don't change the subject." She muttered as she hobbled up the stairs; she leaned against him for support, and the closer she pressed her side against his the quicker his pulse raced.

He decided to tease her for a bit; maybe it would somehow coax her into telling him what she was thinking of. "Hm, what can you possibly be thinking of at the moment...or should I say, _who _could you possibly be thinking of at the moment?"

He hit the jackpot; the lovely blush on her face worsened and her beautiful eyes lowered to the floor. "I hate you." She mumbled pathetically, and he stifled a triumphant laugh.

Was it possible that she was thinking of…

_Stop acting so cocky, _his conscience kicked in again, _Why the hell would she be thinking about _you?

He shook his thoughts off and pulled away from her, though soon afterwards he gently placed his hand on the small of her back and began to push her down the hallway. "Oh, the possibilities…"

_Think you're so smooth, eh?_

"I know you know," She let out a sigh, "Just...just don't say it. You've humiliated me enough as it is."

The weariness in her tone tugged at his heartstrings, and he reached for his hair. "How are you sure that I know?"

"Because you won't stop grinning like you're the happiest person on earth," It was funny how that statement sort of rang true at the moment. "And don't _you_ have to answer the question now?"

Unable to help himself Roxas smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, since you assumed that I know what you're thinking I'm going to assume the same about you," He could practically hear the sparks of anger flittering around her, "And since you didn't actually answer the question I'm not going to either." He acknowledged her redheaded cousin, who had been staring at them the entire time from her seat. "Your cousin's waiting for you, by the way."

Naminé's small hands balled into fists and she stomped the floor with the foot that did not have the sprained ankle. "You..._argh!"_ Her immature demeanor was very entertaining, and he could not hold in his laughter at this point. He was still laughing when she stomped all the way to Kairi's desk, and by the time he got to his he was chuckling and shaking his head.

He could get used to this.

He could hear the blonde's soft yet irritated voice from just a few rows away as class commenced, and Kairi's amused laugh and witty comments. He managed to pick up a tidbit of the conversation; Naminé was complaining about how irritating he was this morning. The thought only made his smile widen, though the possibility of her thinking about him was sort of unnerving; he really wanted to know what - or who - she was thinking about, and he wanted to find out _now_. If it really did end up being him, what could that mean?

The second half of class was a work period; he slipped out in the last five minutes to grab another pair of sea-salt ice cream sticks before rushing back towards the hallway with his Math classroom in it. By the time he arrived the bell just rang, and he noticed the blonde and her redheaded cousin walking out of the door, chatting amongst themselves. Kairi's eyes briefly met his and she smirked; he smirked back. She turned back towards Naminé to utter something to her, and when the blonde turned around to face him the frustrated expression on her pretty face was so tempting he almost lost his self-control.

"What do you want?" He found it amusing how he thought she was actually pretty when she was angry.

"Nothing, I just wondered if you wanted to spend lunch with me again."

Her eyes softened a bit and her cheeks grew pink. "Of course I do." She murmured shyly, and his heart began to hammer painfully against his ribcage at the sight of her abashed expression.

By the time he led her back to the bleachers by the PE Wing his desire to break into her thoughts was nearly unbearable; it nagged relentlessly at the back of his brain as they stepped higher up onto the bleachers, and it clawed vigorously at his insides when they finally sat down.

He pulled out the plastic bag with the sea-salt ice creams and another sandwich in it. "Can you please enlighten me on who - or what - you were thinking about? It's been bothering me the entire period." He gave her the sandwich first.

She gave him a victorious grin before biting into her lunch. "I thought you already knew."

"No, you only assumed that I did."

Her eyes narrowed again and her fingers twitched against the soft bread of her sandwich. "Stop playing dumb - you just want me to say it."

Roxas' self-control was dwindling, and it was dwindling _fast._ Before he knew it he was leaning forward again, and they were so close he could feel her bangs brushing against his forehead. Naminé's breathing hitched as he spoke in a low voice, "So what if I want to?"

She twitched; she seemed to be having some kind of internal conflict. The blush on her face spread to her neck and the tips of her ears and her silvery blue eyes were so wide it was a wonder why they were not tearing up yet. "Er, I-"

He managed to will himself to lean back, and he reached upwards to tousle his hair. "There's just..._something_ about you when you do that." He realized much too late in the sentence that he was merely thinking out loud, "It's irresistible."

Her blush somehow worsened. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Now who's playing dumb?" He already spoke his mind, so why not do it again? "When you stutter and your eyes lower and your face goes all red - you do it all the time." Not that he was complaining.

Her eyes lowered to her sandwich; her face was so red it was nearly violet. "Only when you're around." She muttered in a voice so low he thought he had imagined it.

Hm, so this conversation was actually _going_ somewhere. "Oh? Why is that?"

She sighed and continued to nibble at her sandwich; it seemed that she was trying very hard to avoid eye contact with him, and he liked it. "Do I really have to explain?" He deliberately decided not to answer and she sighed a second time. "Don't you ever notice the way girls stare at you when you enter a room, or the way they sigh when you merely _turn_ in their direction?"

What was she getting at? "Am I supposed to?"

Her voice remained low and somewhat spiteful. "I think the girls in class are going to start hating me soon for stealing you away from them. Didn't you see the way they started whispering when we sat together in History this morning?"

So she noticed too. Roxas chuckled and handed her a popsicle when she finished her sandwich. "Stealing me away? They never had me in the first place. Besides Olette no one here's really caught my attention-" _Except for you, of course. _"-most of them only care about who has more money than who. Being brought up outside this neighbourhood makes it easier to see through the plastic and shiny surfaces."

Her flaxen head tilted to the side and he suppressed a smile. "So they're not as perfect as they look?"

Her innocence was endearing. "Of course not - nobody is. The thing about the higher ups: the money does all the talking upfront, and the rest is done behind your back."

"That's true…" She trailed off, tugging on the little flick of hair near the back of her head. The look in her eyes was easy to read, and his lips curved into a smirk.

"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, they're not." When her head jerked upwards his smirk widened. "Your cousin, my brother and the other three are probably the only ones around here I'd consider _real_ people. You should stick with them."

Naminé's answering smile was small, tentative and lovable. "What about you? Are you real?"

"I wasn't brought up here, remember?" He smiled back, "That makes the two of us."

Her blush returned and she tried to pay attention to her ice cream. "Okay, now that you know, it's your turn to tell me what - or _who - _you're thinking of."

She made things too easy. "You didn't answer it directly so why should I?"

Her temper flared up again. _"UGH!" _She flailed her arms in frustration, nearly dropping her popsicle in the process; he doubled over in laughter.

English and Gym flew by afterward due to Roxas' new and improved mood. He was now in the car with his brother, listening to happier music.

"I've never seen you smile like that before," Sora commented with a chuckle, "Somebody's excited to eat dinner tonight."

"Shut up," Roxas retorted, though he was still smiling, "Why can't I bask in my own happiness without someone interrupting me?"

"Sorry," His twin snorted as the blond drove into the Katsura manor, "It's just something I _have_ to point out." He scratched the back of his head and frowned. "Er, d'you know what you're wearing?"

The blond shrugged as he ducked out of the car. "It shouldn't be that hard to find something to wear - it's not like we don't dress up for dinner all the time."

"True." The brothers made their way into the house and into their respective rooms, where they spent the hour doing their homework. After finishing Roxas stepped into the bathroom and cranked the shower on; the hot water skimming over him instilled a thinking mood, and the first thing that came into his head was the phone conversation he shared with Axel this morning.

_"Don't you think you're going a little too far on the Naminé thing? I mean, it's only been a few days!"_

He shook it off as he stepped out of the glass cubicle, watching the tiny water droplets splay all over the grey tiles before running a towel through his hair. His best friend's voice continued to nag at the back of his head as he slapped on some cologne and feebly attempted to fix up his hair - like always it refused to obey him and it remained a hopeless, spiky mess.

Okay, so maybe Axel was right: they had only been talking for a few days, but if they were getting along so well did it really matter?

The blond was still mulling over it as he shuffled into his closet. He adjusted his creamy yellow tie in the full-length mirror and frowned; Axel was wrong. He was sure of it. He was just jealous because he could not find someone as enchanting and wonderful and perfect-

"Roku?" He dashed out of his closet to open his door; Sora was wearing nothing but a pair of teal plaid pyjama pants, and his hair was dripping wet. His shoulders were sagging and there was a look of utmost hopelessness on his face. "I need help."

Roxas leaned against his doorframe with his arms crossed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I can't dress myself to save my life - help me find something impressionable to wear or Kairi'll never let me hear the end of it!"

As always it took the brothers a good half-hour to scour through Sora's apocalypse of a closet to find at least one unwrinkled shirt. By the time the brunet found an outfit the Hinomotos were expected to arrive any minute.

"Boys!" Their mother hollered from downstairs, and the twins cursed in unison.

"And I thought _my_ room was messy." Roxas grumbled as they hurried out of the brunet's room.

"Shut up - it has charm."

"Right." The brothers dashed down the stairs, sighing in relief when they realized that the Hinomotos have not arrived yet. They decided to waste time in the lounge room for a few minutes.

"Y'know," Sora flopped onto the sofa, his chino-chafed legs dangling over the armrest, "You never answered my question about the double date thing."

"Oh right - when is it again?"

"This Saturday."

The blond cringed and swept the bangs out of his eyes. "I'm afraid I can't - I've got important things to attend to."

The brunet raised an eyebrow. "Really? What could possibly be more important to you than Naminé?"

Roxas glared at his brother. "I've already had pre-arranged plans that I can't back out of now." His expression softened and he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs, clasping his hands together. "I'd do anything to spend time with her on Saturday, really, but unfortunately I made a promise."

Sora's eyebrow was still raised, but he shrugged it off. "Alright, I guess I'll have to tell Kairi later." He scratched the back of his spiky head. "You still have next Friday, right?"

His blond brother nodded. "Yeah, I'm still clean, surprisingly. I don't know how I've managed to get this far."

"Hey, this is a good thing." There was the sound of a door opening and Sora leapt from his seat. "Oh, I think they're here-" He left the room to greet the Hinomotos; Naminé's shy voice could be heard from the other side of the door and the butterflies in Roxas' stomach were beginning to rouse.

"Hey Sora," Kairi greeted daintily as Roxas left the lounge room, "Where's your brother?"

"Right here." The blond gave the redhead a smile and a polite nod; her scarlet dress complimented her hair, and it even glared black when the light hit it in certain places. When he glanced at Naminé he noticed the sharp contrast in the girls' outfits: while Kairi stuck with dark, almost seductive colours the blonde chose light, innocent pastels. Her dress was floaty with white straps and a matching white hem that fluttered around her knees. Ironically the base of the dress was the exact shade of milky yellow as his tie. "You look wonderful tonight, Naminé."

He smiled when she coloured prettily. "T-thank you."

The boys' mother noticed them and she clapped her hands together. "Looks like we're all here - shall we make our way to the dining room?"

Roxas watched his brother and his redheaded girlfriend follow the adults before turning towards Naminé, whose cheeks were still a bright red. He held his arm out to her and she hesitantly looped hers around it, smiling diffidently as he led her down the hallway. He could smell her distinguishable rain-like scent as he leaned in towards her ear. "You know what?" He murmured, and he suppressed a smile when she twitched.

"W-what?"

"You really do look wonderful tonight." He smiled as her eyes ran over his outfit; her eyes paused on his tie and her blush worsened. "I knew you were going to do that."

As they continued down the hallway Naminé's expression grew more and more worried. When they finally reached the dining room he pulled out a chair for her, and she timidly thanked him as she lowered herself into her seat.

"Everything is made out of glass," She mumbled, "You know how dangerous that is for someone as accident-prone as me?"

"Of course I do," Roxas replied casually as he took the seat next to her, "That's what I'm going to make sure you're not going to be tripping over anything today - and that includes thin air."

Dinner commenced soon afterward; everyone small-talked throughout their food for a few minutes, until Roxas looked downwards and noticed that Naminé was using the wrong utensils for the wrong dish.

"Er, Namine," He frowned, and she glanced up at him.

"What?" She asked as she returned her stare to her plate, "Am I doing something wrong?"

He chuckled and pointed at her hands. "You're using your appetizer fork."

She rolled her eyes and dropped the tined utensil, hesitating for a few seconds before reaching towards what she thought was the right one - it was not, actually, but he thought it was best not to further intervene. "Does it really make much of a difference?"

"It's etiquette." He chuckled, "I thought Kairi told you to _work your way in - _that's the best way to remember."

She exhaled sharply. "They all look the same to me."

Minutes later Sora piped up, leaning forward to glance at them properly. "Are you guys done? Let's go upstairs!"

"Alright," Roxas pushed away from the table and reached for Naminé's hand, and he stifled a laugh when he read the bewildered expression on her pretty face, "Come on."

She blinked a few times before reluctantly curling her fingers around his; her hand was small and dainty, and he gave her a reassuring squeeze as he led her out of the kitchen and back into the main foyer. He followed Sora and Kairi up the glass steps, down the hallway and into the mini-theatre.

Kairi was racing towards the DDR machine like her life depended on it. "Five munny for whoever wins in DDR!"

Roxas could not help but chuckle when his brother groaned and trudged after the redhead; he returned his attention to the blonde (who was still blinking at their entwined hands) and shook his head. "They have one of the most interesting relationships I've ever seen; they can argue all day long and challenge each other at anything, and at the end of the day you'll catch them hugging and holding hands."

The moment he mentioned _holding hands_ Naminé's eyes dropped to their own, and he laughed as he gently tugged her towards the back of the room.

"Where does this go?" He heard her soft voice from behind as they stopped in front of a pair of doors made out of frosted glass.

"See for yourself." He pushed the doors open, revealing the studio. He eyed the childlike awe on her face as she looked around at the various instruments lying all over the room, and he could not help but smile. "I'm here most of the time when I'm home," Actually ever since the Olette incident this was the first time he had stepped in here in months, "Sora and I spend a lot of time in here together too, even though he can only play the percussion instruments with no pitch."

Her eyes looked ready to bulge out of their sockets. "You play _all_ of these?" She gaped as he pulled her over to his guitar, "You said you only played guitar!"

He let go of her hand to grab the red and black acoustic guitar that was hanging off the wall; he sat down on the platform and strummed a few chords, smiling to himself when he realized it was still in tune after the many months of not playing it. "Not all of them, but I'm in the process of learning." He paused to mess up his hair. "Sora really wants to learn too and I've been trying to teach him but I honestly don't think it's in him to be a musician…" He shook his head and chuckled, "I think he just wants to learn so he can impress Kairi but he doesn't really need to do that. It's obvious she likes him a lot already, just for who he is."

Naminé smoothed out her skirt and sat beside him. "You shouldn't try too hard to impress a girl; you'll end up becoming someone you're not, and then you'll end up with a relationship based on your own lie." She paused for a minute; he could feel her eyes on his hands as he continued to fiddle with his guitar. "Kairi said that she knew Sora for a really long time before they started going out; does that mean she knew you too?"

Images of his not-so-pretty past flashed behind his eyes and he held down the urge to cringe. "Yes and no - I'd sometimes hang around with her and Sora when I stayed over for the summer, and we'd talk and everything but she was always closer to my brother than me." A silver-haired boy's face appeared before him but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "Like I mentioned before they have a special relationship - something between them just _clicked, _you know? I wasn't surprised when I moved in last summer, only to find them going out. I was expecting it, really." He sighed and rumpled his hair. "I'm really happy for them, especially Sora. He needs someone like Kairi."

"I'm happy for them too," She smiled and Roxas' heart went awry, "Though I do feel bad for your brother sometimes; Kairi can be a little scary."

Looking at the soft colour of her dress caused a song to pop into his head, and he began to softly strum it. He smiled to himself as his fingers shifted around on the rosewood fingerboard. "You know, I always thought you'd be like her," He commented, "But you proved me wrong. You're actually quite the opposite."

The expression she was wearing sort of intimidated him. "Is that why you couldn't stop staring at me the first couple of days?"

He felt his cheeks warm up a bit as he smiled sheepishly at her, glancing at her from underneath his eyelashes. "Sort of, yes - I was trying to figure you out. Sorry if it offended you or anything - it's just that...well, you're intriguing, Naminé." He felt incredibly stupid when he said that.

Her big eyes were staring at her hands, which were absentmindedly fiddling with each other. "Intriguing?" She mumbled, "I highly doubt that."

It was as if his hands were working on their own; he rested his guitar against the wall and turned around so that he was facing her, prying her hands apart and lacing his fingers with her own. He smiled when her blush worsened, and he could hear his racing pulse thudding in his ears. "The way you blush when you're nervous is really quite captivating."

His heart threatened to explode as his hands wandered to her face, cradling it in a loose grip as he gently tilted her head upwards so that she was looking at him. He could feel her small hands fisting the lapels of his jacket, and his breathing almost stopped when he slowly leaned forward so that his forehead was against hers. Her long lashes twitched to a close, skimming over her cheekbones, and he sucked in a breath as he proceeded to move in closer, all the while trying to still his wildly fluttering pulse. His blood thumped uncomfortably in his ears as his lips brushed hers, and he parted his mouth slightly to give into his temptation.

"HEY!" Of course his twin brother had to ruin the moment; his voice was easy to hear even through the soundproofed walls, "YOU'RE CHEATING!"

The sudden shout scared Naminé away from him, leaning backwards and almost falling off the platform they were sitting on. Roxas instinctively reached for her wrists and pulled her back towards him, though he pulled a bit too hard and she ended up colliding with his chest. He 'oof-ed!' at the impact and she glanced up at him, her smile apologetic and her cheeks a bright red. He sighed, disheartened that he did not get what he thought was coming but he sucked it up and reached for her hand, pulling her to her feet.

"C'mon, Kairi and Sora will destroy something if we don't act soon." The sad thing about it was that he was speaking the truth.

She did not answer him but she did not fight back when he tugged her out of the studio; he only assumed she was still dazed from what - or what _almost_ - happened just a few minutes ago.

He could not blame her, anyway; he wanted it to happen as much as he thought she did - at least he _hoped_ she wanted it.

Axel was going to have something to say about this tomorrow, that was for sure. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered to tell his best friend these sorts of things...

--

_A/N: I'm pretty sure you all know what song Roxas began to play since I'm assuming most of you have read Shine. In case you didn't, it's _Yellow_ by Coldplay._

_Mm - out-of-the-shower Roxas and wet, shirtless Sora._

_One little random bit of info I'd like to add:  
Now I'm usually not the type to whore myself but I recently typed up a blog that I really want people to read- not that I'm pining for attention or that it's superbly written or anything, but it's just my opinion on the whole yaoi-yuri/het couple animosity and how I think it's gone a little too far. Wanna check it out? I know you do ; ) go on my profile page and click on the 'homepage' link to read! Leave a comment if you wish, and please spread the word!_

_Thanks to all of you for your support and lovely reviews; I will try and update this more often! In all honesty I just want to get this done so I can start on the Axel midquel..._


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